Today I did something different…….I took pictures just for fun. I have been having this long-running discussion with a fellow photography beginner (find him here) and with his help it has become abundantly clear that I had managed to skew my original intent for purchasing this camera into something wretched and horrible. Well no longer my friends and readers.
Today I just played. I had no intent other than to enjoy myself. I found items around the house, placed them upon a small table in the living room, where there was good natural light, and pushed the shutter release button to my hearts content. It was fun. It was creative. It was the first time since I brought home the camera on 20 December 2007 that I actually enjoyed myself. I had been making the picture taking process entirely too cumbersome. My pictures had to be this and that and perfection (as defined by photographic standards) was paramount.
Well it’s absurd to think I’m going to be taking perfect pictures when I’m just an amateur. I shouldn’t be worrying about such things. I should be taking pictures so that I can become comfortable with the camera and so that I can familiarize myself with the various settings of the type I might use on a very regular basis. And ultimately I must remember to have fun with whatever I’m doing. Otherwise it’s no longer a hobby, but an albatross around my neck. And I don’t need another one of those.
Forkboy's Photographic Travails 
That’s great! I think that’s absolutely the best thing you could do, and for all the right reasons. I’m really pleased for you.
And you may well find that being so much more relaxed about the enterprise will often result in shots that will surprise you, and actually encourage you to want to share them with others.
My own relatively prodigious output came about in a similar way insofar as I recognised that I needed to become completely familiar with the camera(s) and its various settings etc and, along similar lines, train my body (hands and eye mainly of course!) to learn how to use the camera not as a “tool” but almost as an extension of myself, so that I could manipulate it virtually unthinkingly.
The actual way in which I take photos has also played into this motivation. Not for me the planned or calculated shoot where everything has to be “just so” and I take the time to set everything up (including the camera) exactly as I want it, or as it should be. Oh no. I’m much more the type to wander along a semi pre-decided route and fire off loads of shots spontaneously and rapidly at virtually anything that catches my attention. Which means I need to become so familiar with the specific requirements of each shot (and they always seem to differ dammit, even from one to the immediately following) that I can make whatever adjustments are necessary instinctively and unthinkingly (that’s the target, anyway!).
To a large extent I think this has been dictated by the fact that much of what I do is covering protests etc, where frequently one has to respond quickly to developing situations if one wants to “catch the action”.
And yeah, I think you’ve found the Golden Key to this (and indeed virtually any other) enterprise… first and foremost its gotta be fun. So enjoy, my friend.
🙂
inspiration comes from what you are interested in 🙂
Great. I should be taking pictures of dinner?
And why not indeed? Lots of folk do