My New Found Love - Photography

Hi Lovelies,

I have been looking forward to putting up this post for a very long time. I am glad it is finally up because I  have had a very crazy month due to work and qualifications pressure but I am good now. This is going to be a long post, so sit back and grab a cuppa tea or water or coffee or soda or whatever floats your boat...:-)

So, let's start from the basics, shall we?. My wonderful Dad was very much into photography which he wholeheartedly invested in. He always said "Photography is an expensive hobby" and indeed he was so right.  He had very good cameras and was a very good photographer which meant we, his kids, had many good pictures and memories of our childhood. Sadly, some photographers do not have many pictures of themselves because they are always so busy capturing other people's images and memories. 

My bro looks embarrassed by his lil' sis' dance moves...lol 

Growing up, I  just loved the camera. I will pose for my Dad who was always happy to catch me off guard with his camera ; capturing some of my silly poses.  Then, the camera phones were invented and my dad got me my first one which I loved so much; it was a Nokia (I can't remember the model now), the picture quality was not perfect but it served its purpose for me. Later, my lovely brother got me a Nokia N95 which had a nice 5MP camera and I loved this phone so much. After that, I got a series of blackberry phones which had good cameras especially my last one which was a torch.

I took many pictures with it because I just loved taking pictures (selfies) of myself (I was and I still am a teeny weeny bit vain), other people and places but I really loved taking pictures in front of a mirror best; don't ask me why :-)

Somehow, I preferred taking pictures with my phone rather than with actual cameras because they are easier to whip out in a flash plus you really don't want to carry cameras everywhere.   My boyfriend got me my first digital camera which I still have because it is such an amazing camera with excellent picture quality and video quality as well. It is a Nikon Cool Pix Digital Camera which is still my number one baby camera..


                          

 I love this camera so much because it holds so many beautiful memories I have shared with my loved ones. Also, I think I became interested in Photography with this camera because I got to practice with different settings and lighting.  I loved taking pictures any and every where; I did not care if they looked good or not. Surprisingly, the video quality was amazing and I recorded a good number of videos with this camera. 


                     


My boyfriend seeing how interested I had become with photography and videos got me a Samsung H300 HD Camcorder for my birthday because he knew I loved making Youtube videos at the time. He is the most amazing guy in the world who inspires me in many many ways and I feel very blessed to have him in my life.....*deepblush*


I digress :-). 

Fast Forward, at work, I met a wonderful colleague let's call him M. He loved photography and he is a pro. I was amazed by his wonderful pictures, the way he edited them and how he used social media to connect with other photographers around and share his amazing work. He agreed to teach me the basics about proper photography and DSLR cameras which I was hoping to buy soon. He taught me a lot about Depths of Field, Focusing, ISOs, Noise Reduction, etc. It was a whole new world to me and we shot some amazing photos together in Manchester.

                     
Not stopping there, he loaned/gave me his bridge camera FujiFilm which was one of the kindest gestures from a friend and he told me I had a good eye for photography. Of course, I half believed him because I just thought(and still think) he was just being a nice sweet friend.

Then, I got my Iphone 5 in March of this year and I will say my life changed (hahha, ok just a little). It opened up a whole new world to me because it has a very good camera, provided me access to wonderful editing apps for pictures and I could upload straight to any social media I wanted to especially my blog for my wonderful readers. Guys, I was snapping away all the time and I have not looked back since. 





I just realised that I have not been taking as much pictures of myself as I did in the past rather I have been taking lovely pictures of the beautiful world before me. I think this new found passion has been heightened because I moved to a new city so I see everything with the fresh eyes of a tourist. 





To me, photography creates an avenue for me to be in touch with the world and appreciate the wonderful things created by God and man-made alike. I love taking pictures of my make up, beauty products, food, meals, places, works of art, nature, people, name it. They all inspire me and I am never tired of taking pictures. I could get down from the bus or train, half way to my destination, to take a picture of something or somewhere because I think it is amazing.

My friend M who I mentioned earlier shares his passion for photography with other people in the most amazing and innovative way. Find out more about him and his work here:
500Px: http://500px.com/markprime
Flikr: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/markprime

He created a lovely group where people who share a common love for  photography come together to learn and share. Although, it is based in Manchester, I am still a member via internet and virtual links. If you want to learn more about our work, click the links below:

Flikr (where we share amazing pics): https://secure.flickr.com/groups/thephotographysessions/
Glassboard (Where we hold discussions): https://app.glassboard.com/web/invitation/code/gobou
Crowd Funder (We are planning an exhibition): http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/investment/pho-tog-raph-me-1171



In August, we are going to hold our first exhibition where we share many of our pictures with the world, not stopping there, we are going to put them on canvas and auction them. It is going to a be a wonderful project and you stand a chance of winning some beautiful photos on either canvas or postcard  formats. If you want know how you can be part of this, Click here to find out more
I have joined a couple of other forums where I share my photography skills but mainly to learn from others and improve my skill.

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94319829@N05

I think it's important for everyone to find something that makes them happy or passionate. At this time in my life, it is photography and blogging. Have you found yours yet?

I think this was one of the most personal blog posts I have put up and I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it...xx. Stay Tuned for my next Blog Posts on the basics of Iphoneography and How I edit my pictures...