What photography does to you

Ever since I picked up my first digital camera 6 years ago, I knew photography wasn’t just going to be something I wanted to play around with. I wanted to record. I wanted to create. I wanted to experience the world and capture the precious moments in life, and photography gave me the chance to do all that. Diving into the world of photography has been a slow process for me, and a very enjoyable one. I find myself loving this hobby more and more every day and immersing myself deeper into a whole new dimension, where everything is so new yet so…refreshing.

But then, photography does strange things to you.

It makes you look at a rock and think it is the most intricate thing in nature.

It makes you run around chasing a dragonfly for half an hour just to perfectly capture its beauty.

It makes you see reflections in the water in a different light.

It makes you feel alert to the sound of a scurrying chipmunk to estimate its next position, catching that mischievous little thing and winning in its own game of hide-and-seek.

It makes you find amusement in holes in leaves, rushing water current, and heart-shaped clouds.

It makes you notice your father’s aging eyes, observe your mother’s shrinking body, and marvel at your sister’s budding adolescence and sinking innocence.

It hones your patience, in the midst of much frustration.

It makes you appreciate the invisible and forgotten things in nature, every emotion shown on a stranger’s face, and all the neglected delicacies of everyday life.

It makes you realize your photography can never be “good enough”, and there’s always room for improvement, and thus pushing you to learn, learn more, learn some more, and learn even more.

There is certainly quite a learning curve involved in photography, but I wish to strive for the best and continue improving little by little with time. This week I went to Young’s Point – a hidden, unknown place near Peterborough – with my family as part of our annual fishing trip. Instead of fishing, I went around and took photos all day, even though I had been to the place at least 5 times before. It worked out as we only had three fishing rods anyway, so while my parents and my sisters fished, I spent some quality time with Mr.Nikon. The following is a small selection of the fruit of the day.

And yes, these pictures made me realize that I probably…okay, most likely would want to invest in a macro lens eventually…whenever that is. That’s another thing photography does to you…>_>

Intricate flower-like plant with many tiny sub-units (forgive my nerdiness, I cannot think of another suitable term for description) in its structure.