kartika9 • blogs

What photography taught me so far

The first time I held a camera was in my primary six. I was going to a school excursion and all students need to write a report of what we learned from the trip. The report needs to have picture inside it. I brought a Fuji film camera – the point and shoot of that era. My dad taught me how to change the film but I still made the film burned because I opened it under the sun. Lesson learned.

The first time I used a digital camera when I was in university. A Panasonic Lumix with awesome zoom system, that any cameras hardly had it.

My dad used to be an avid photographer too. He passed down his Nikon FT-3 to me. (I feel so proud like I won a gold medal in a competition) He warned me to take care of it well, because the camera is older than me.

Anyway, two main points that I like to share with you. How photography shapes me and made me know more about myself.

1. Film person vs digital person

If I have to choose one to describe myself, then I’ll go with digital. Although my first encounter was a film, I don’t have solid basic of film photography. I make a lot of mistakes, learn and shape myself through digital photography. When I look at my past photos until my recent photos. I found amazed sometimes, it’s quite a difference.

2. Learn and feel, not memorize

I’m not that discipline when it comes to follow rule like the other film photographer do. I tend to feel it. If it’s not right, then I’ll take it again. The biggest disadvantage is, you may lose a moment. But, the good point is getting the sense right.

I met a friend through a photography club outing. She will ask me what are the numbers I use to get the picture. Usually I will need to see the info from my dSLR.

But from her, I learned that even though I use my intuition more often, I will still need to know the approximate number for initial setup.

 

Disclaimer: I’m not a photographer (professionally) but I love photography. I like to take photo with any kinds of devices. Regardless it’s a mobile phone or digital camera or film camera and its variety.

 

*Update: I wrote this post last week, after having discussion with my friend about photography. Yesterday, I helped out as a assistant for a wedding event. This is my first exposure for a formal event. I’ll write post about this on my next post.

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