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.

New camera plus food

The day after I arrived in Toronto, I purchased my first DSLR, the Nikon D5100. Now, I know about 6 months ago I said I wasn’t going to get one any time soon. I guess I lied.

It wouldn’t be completely correct to say I’ve been saving up for one, because I had the funds that I needed this entire time, so money wasn’t the biggest issue. As I had mentioned before, portability and convenient was perhaps the thing that stopped me from making the purchase much sooner. What, then, changed my mind? Perhaps the more relevant question for me was, why Nikon?

I realized that I had never actually put my hands on a DSLR for a long period of time, even though I said I wanted to try it. When I saw my friends who owned one, I would occasionally ask to take one or two photos without really taking the time to figure out what was going on outside auto mode. On a recent trip to St.Emilion, I asked to hold onto a friend’s Nikon D7000 as I experimented with the settings a bit and took pictures here and there. Bingo – versatility plus image quality equals instant love.

That was probably the event that made me decide to let go of my excuses and settled for a DSLR. If I ended up with no neck pain after carrying a D7000 the entire day, a lighter D5100 would be no problem at all.

As for why I chose Nikon in the first place, well, let’s just say I’ve always been a fan of Canon. My first two cameras were from Canon, and I’ve never used a printer that wasn’t a Canon, so it would make sense that my first DSLR would be a Canon. I suppose I wasn’t as loyal as I thought I was. Then again, I never gave Nikon a chance until that fateful day when I laid my hands on the D7000, and it all changed from then on. (Sorry Canon, I’ll still keep my A2000 with me all the time, I ensure that; you won’t be abandoned.)

Deciding on the Nikon model to purchase was also no simple task. As a complete DSLR newbie, I could definitely do with some advice and suggestions. And certainly help was there from various friends who had been doing DSLR photography for a long time (oddly I think the three people I often go to for photography advice started around the same time). I played around with the Nikons at the camera shop and with the budget in mind, the D5100 seemed to be the most appropriate choice – and recommended by almost everyone – although the D3100 was the less superior and less expensive alternative, if I did want to save the $200. Then again, I figured that the camera would be staying with me for (hopefully) a long, long time, so why not invest in something that I would feel most comfortable with?

So, I have been the proud owner of my Mr.Nikon for a little more than a week, and I am loving every second of interacting with it so far. The art of photography is something that had been tempting me to immerse within its glamour for a long time, and all of a sudden a whole array of new possibilities seem to have opened up just now. I still need to take time to seriously learn how to use this baby, but I am sure the process is one that I will enjoy dearly and the investment is something I won’t regret.