I have always taken pictures throughout my whole life. I have always had a camera of some sort like most of us have, usually instamatics. With the advent of digital and no longer requiring film, my first really good digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix with zoom lens. I learned about it at a NAR meeting years ago. This camera provided great pictures but it was really hard on the batteries that didn't last very long.
I found a power supply that did provide for many more pictures and for several years it provided excellent pictures. Then I saw a very neat Casio Exilim at Sharper Image, a Limited Edition version and that was to be my next camera. And I have a newer version that I still carry. For it's tiny profile that actually does fit in a pocket ,though I would never carry it there, it is an amazing little camera. My listing photos were excellent and have actually improved.
About a year ago this next month, I purchased my first SLR camera, a Pentax. I was so excited when I saw the type of photos I was generating and what could be done with them in post processing. It did have some limited functionality but was actually very easy to operate and provided pretty much fool proof photos. I added a couple of new lenses and I felt like the world was my canvas for great photos . Did you just notice the word change from previous reference of pictures to now saying photos? And also notice I don't use the reference that I am yet a photographer. I would never insult the professionals out there that are totally amazing and know so much more about images and the great tools of photography . I am a photo hobbyist, for now that is.
As I took many more photos, I began to really start to think about not just capturing the scene but now about building a collection of images that captured a creative or an artistic expression. As one begins the evolutionary process of taking pictures to taking photos and then to collecting images, the excitement with each photo opportunity also increases.
This immediate past Christmas I wanted a bigger and more powerful camera and acquired the Nikon D-90 that I currently use. It took the better part of a month reading ( Myrl Jeffcoat of our ActiveRain Photo Blogger group recommended the D-90 for Dummies and it has really helped me greatly) and trying to understand the setting choices. And that is still a work in process. I figure in a few years I will have a much working knowledge of what this camera will can do. But I can tell ave been bitten with a design to capture and share images as part of being a REALTOR. Betting listing photos and capturing the many wonderful things encounter in life that I may share my new hobby of capturing wonderful images.
A few weeks ago, I was at a luncheon and saw a neat colorful piece of art work on the wall and I wanted to capture it. I went over to the couple sitting under and almost in front of it and I asked if they minded me sort of hanging over their table to capture it. They were very happy to accommodate me. No real fuss and it took just a moment. I offer in evidence the image below that I thought, as a piece of art, was an interesting image to capture. A "Dissection of a Tulip" ( timely for Spring, don't you think?).
Knowing that I really love this it was time to invest in a professional version of Photoshop to be able to do some of the great things that Debi Boucher and the other great photographers of ActiveRain can do. I admit my desire was greater than my common sense on this decision to get Photoshop CS4 Extended. Busy with real estate clients, trying to learn all I can in the technology arena for blogging and social media, If I thought the camera was difficult to learn, I admit that this new post processing software is overwhelming.
But this I do know. One step, one small task and step by step, I will learn and this challenge I take freely because I love creating and one day.... well, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it would be really exciting that I would be referred to as a good photographer by other excellent photographers like Debi Boucher and so many others here in the Rain. And it will come because I know this hobby is making a real difference in me being happy and feeling fulfilled while still loving and having my passion in real estate.
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