Do you want to broaden your cultural horizon, or experience beautiful landscapes around the world? How about make some extra cash or even transition into a new career? Maybe you’re just looking to get more active and unwind after a stressful day at work. Well, I’m here to tell you, if the above-mentioned descriptions captured your attention, then photography is a great hobby to pick up. Photography can help you express your creativity, obtain career goals, expand your skillset and lend knowledge to others, and even help you improve your overall health. You won’t regret it.
Photography, like most artistic outlets, helps build creative expression. Taking pictures of different environments and going places you’re unfamiliar with can increase not only your artistic perspective, but your cultural perspective as well. Pictures of people, animals, foods, and many other things can help you discover and learn. Everything from capturing the Lantern Festival, that marks the last day of the Chinese New Year festivities, to visually telling a story about the hunter-gatherer culture of Amazonian tribes. Cultural diversity is surrounding every one of us. As a photographer, you only need to push the shutter button, and you can begin telling your story. Examining and finding new ways to photograph your object of interest, might help you and others view that subject in a new and different light. Photography can take an individual in so many directions.
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Let’s say you work at a boring desk job. You work eight-hour days and you have the same routine almost every night. Photography can help you break that day to day monotony and develop skills that can allow you to transition into a new career. You could make money on the side by selling pictures, taking portraits for your employers, or capturing a special moment for a client. The most basic way you can start to earn money with your photos is by selling them as stock images. It’s surprisingly easy. Companies such as Shutterstock or Adobe Stock photography offer very useful user interfaces that you can use to easily post your pictures! If stock photography isn’t your gig, you could work on building a repeat client base by taking portraits or company headshots. No matter which way you sell your work, you continually add to your portfolio. This can promote your own business and keep the cash rolling in. It’s a great hobby to do on the side and make extra spending money. You could possibly even take it to the next level and make it a career.
Technology is ever increasing, making picture taking a new experience. Originally picture printing was a daunting task that involved several chemicals, a dark room, and a certain amount of time to capture the correct exposure. With the modernization of printing processes, all of that can now take place inside a photo processing machine at your local Walgreens or CVS. Nowadays, people can capture digital photos on a cell phone all the way up to major brand DSLR and Mirrorless cameras, then simply send them wirelessly to their network printer. Barbara Harrison, author of “Snap Happy: Toward a Sociology of ‘Everyday’ Photography,” says that “there is little doubt that most people are familiar with cameras, and the majority will be engaged in forms of photographic practice as amateurs, that is as a “pastime” or hobby or as an adjunct to events, activities and leisure in their everyday lives.” Harrison also states, “those features which make it possible for anyone to do photography, are important to our experience of it in our everyday lives.” For example, capturing a special moment at a family gathering, to sharing that photo with them, can be as simple as clicking print from your phone or camera and picking it up at your printer. Now, they can take that memory with them within minutes of the moment being captured.
In the same light of evolving technology, photo processing software has also become more advanced. Software packages such as GIMP, a free image processing program, all the way up to more professional tools such as Adobe Photoshop, offer users a variety of tools to edit and enhance their photos. Individuals can accomplish tasks ranging from cropping that creepy ex out of the photo, all the way to changing the color of the outfit you were wearing so you can match your friends. With so many complex tools out there, photo editing can seem like a perplexing experience. Fear not, as there are many video, audio, and textual sources that can help you get down the basics, so you can focus more on capturing the moment. Photography is really a gateway into many things. Who would have thought you could pursue a graphic design degree after learning to digitally whiten your grandma’s teeth?
On the other side of the physically sedentary technology path, it is an opportunity to get fit and increase one’s overall health. Photography gets you out and about, allowing you to burn excess calories by walking, climbing, and maneuvering to get that perfect shot. The benefits of photography don’t only extend to one’s physical health, but to your mental health as well. What better way to reduce your stress than to know that your new hobby is helping you live a more active lifestyle and have fun too! Photography is an excellent hobby to help you burn off some extra calories and stress.
Photography isn’t for everyone though. Some people like to stick to capturing memories on a stone tablet and chisel. Surprisingly, there are people who don’t like to develop new skills or become more active to improve the quality of their life. There are also individuals who like to stick to simpler times where one can only enjoy the moment, at that moment. The groups of people who think it detracts from the actual experience, to reach for the camera and take a snapshot. For everyone else, there’s photography.
No matter how you “shoot” it, photography has a little bit to offer for everyone. From expanding your artistic and cultural bounds, to opening a potential career change by developing new skills and selling your vision and improving your overall health. Photography is a limitless hobby that you should pick up today. Just get out there and take awesome pictures. You only have yourself to blame if you don’t get off the couch and start clicking that shutter button.
Citations
- Harrison, B. (2004, December 30). SNAP HAPPY: TOWARD A SOCIOLOGY OF 'EVERYDAY' PHOTOGRAPHY. Retrieved March 2, 2020, from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1016/S1042-3192(04)07003-X/full/html
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