I have tried and failed to get into photography several times in my life.
Within the last year, some of those basics finally clicked in my head, and I got it.
Heres what did it for me, so you dont have to search for them yourself.
Lets just run through my photography failures, just for some context.
In high school and early college, I wanted to be a concert photographer.
I spent tons of money developing poorly-shot 35mm film from a cheap SLR camera.
No matter what I tried, I couldnt get the hang of it.
Eventually, smartphones came along.
As a bonus, Ive also learned how to use the damn thing.
If youre interested in photography too, dont be mestart with these suggestions.
Sure, I want to take great photos.
When I finally accepted this fact and swallowed my geek pride, I was able to move on.
After some research, I discoveredSonys RX100 line of point and shoot cameras.
They take great photos, have lots of manual prefs, and fit in my pocket.
Heres the bad news: your cameras manual sucks.
Good news though: YouTube exists, and its helpful.
This was especially handy for me, since Sonys user interface is awful.
This is one of the main reasons that photography is such a dense hobby to get into.
Photography nerds love to throw terminology in your face from the get-go.
Most of this is completely useless for beginners.
The higher the f-stop number, the more in focus the entire scene is.
Thats all I (and you) need to remember.
Eventually itll all sink in and youll be on your way to better photos.
Photography is the same thing.
That is not me.
Its cool that people can taketechnicallygreat photos.
It doesnt serve any purpose to me and doesnt hold my interest.
For me, its about finding a niche Im comfortable in and emulating that.
For me, that niche is, for lack of a not-stupid term, adventure photos.
Ive found inspiration from sites likethe Radavistor even,somewhat embarrassingly, Red Bull.
Just people doing stuff in cool places.
Settling on a style, even haphazardly, has helped me focus and learn more.
when you’ve got a style that inspires you, you need people who inspire you.
Social networks like500px,Flickr, andInstagrammake it easy to discover photographers that inspire you.
Youll learn a ton about your cameraand all about compositionin one shot.
Like many things, photography is only as intimidating as you allow it to be.
Artwork by Sam Woolley, photo byKarlis Dambrans.
