Intent + Practice = Progress
Photography is something that I only came to appreciate a bit later in life. I’ve wandered through life taking photos of things and places I’ve been, but I never put too much thought into the process of taking good photographs. My first true passion that involved a camera was vlogging. I started vlogging back in late 2009. I bought a Sanyo Xacti camcorder and started making stupid little videos to post on YouTube. Soon after that, I moved to Tokyo and continued to vlog, but I also started taking a ton of bad photos. I blame an app called Hipstamatic, which was like a digital toy camera with filters that you could purchase to give a photo a specific look. The unique thing about Hipstamatic was that it wasn’t just a filter layer that you applied to a photo after taking it. No. Hipstamatic forced you to look through a fake viewfinder and to snap a photo without knowing the result that you would get. I loved the mystery of how a photo would turn out. I’ve taken some of my favorite (bad) photos using Hipstamtic - in fact, a few photos that I’ve posted in the “Japan” section are from Hipstamatic. But I started to realize that I didn’t know anything about photography. My entire goal for photography at the time was to simply “try to take some cool photos”. The problem is, I had no idea what that actually meant.
Arashiyama, Kyoto. iPhone X
To be honest, I still don’t know what it means to take “good” photos. I’m still educating myself and trying to take fewer but “better” photographs. I’ve realized a few things along this journey that I didn’t know when I picked up my first camera with manual controls. Some of the things I’ve learned include the obvious things, like learning how to actually work a camera, use the various settings, and basic composition. But more important than any of the technical skills, in my humble opinion, is the purpose behind taking that photo. Being intentional with the photos I take has made me more aware of what I want to include, what story I’m trying to show the viewer, and what that photo means for me personally. To that end, I try not to take a million photos anymore, because most of them are just bad photos that I’ll end up having to delete anyway. Instead, I slow down and try to imagine what I’m trying to capture and then work on figuring out the best exposure for that situation.
Most of my photos can be roughly divided up into 3 categories: portraits; outdoors; and cityscapes. My favorite type of photography right now? Portrait photography.
I take a ton of portrait photos of my wife and, to a lesser degree, my family. Why? Because they’re the subjects that are most important to me. I’m passionate about trying to take snippets of the life that my wife and I have built together over the past decade+ together because I want to preserve and document our life. Not just the cool stuff we do, but the everyday mundanity of our lives as well. Memories are fleeting, but a photo will last a lifetime. My hobby helps me save moments of my life that I may eventually forget, but nobody can take these photos away from me (barring a catastrophic photo backup fail!). So, I’m going to keep snapping away. I recommend that you do the same. You won’t regret it.
The Coast. iPhone 6S Plus, edited in Snapseed.