“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

Step 1.

Get a camera. Any camera. Do not get sucked into the gear acquisition syndrome. Your camera does not need to be expensive. One lens will do.

But wait, there are so many options…50mm, 35mm, 28mm? Prime lens? Zoom lens? Kit lens?
Do not worry about all those words and numbers, it does not matter one iota.
Just trust the universe and let an affordable camera and lens find you. You will know it when you hold it.

Right now, I shoot with a Fujifilm XT-5 which was a little on the expensive side. Because thats what I thought I needed (thanks YouTube).
Then…I ended up getting some cheap lenses (because I stopped watching YouTube) that are perfect.
And now I am gear content (which is very different from being a content creator, BTW).

All those photography youtubers telling me that I am not really happy and need instead to update to this new camera, slash old camera, slash bag, slash lens, slash format, slash technique, slash preset, slash software, can all go suck on a dirty dishcloth.

I aspire to one day shoot with some shitty banged up thing that has seen a ton of action and has a complex patina that whispers of its history, makes me look cool, and demands abandoned joyful usage. And here is the thing….if I wait long enough my camera will become that camera.

Step 2.

Learn the basic functionality of your camera. Get a basic understanding of the roles of aperture, ISO and shutter speed in taking photos. There are plenty of tutorials available online, there are even books (remember them?) on the topic…it is not that difficult to understand.

Step 3.

Now let step 2 drop away, and get out there and take metric shit-tons of photos. Start looking at everything with a photographer’s eye. Notice the light. Notice the way things are interacting. Look for the moments.

But that about the rule of thirds or hyperfocal distance, or composing with layers and leading lines and subframing and….WHAT ABOUT NEGATIVE SPACE for cripes sakes?!?

Make yourself far too busy taking photos to worry about all that claptrap. Photograph your family. Photograph sunsets. Photograph the light across the kitchen table. Photograph that old building in the rain.

Discover that the act of taking photos, the process of creating photos, is addictive and fulfilling.

Step 4.

Look at your photos, judge your photos, share your photos, adjust your technique…but NEVER compare yourself to other photographers.

Overexposed? That’s cool.
Too dark? How did you get it so moody?
Stupid lame composition? Hey, that’s pretty avant-garde.
Boring subject? You really captured something here.
Left the lens cap on? How zen.

Out of focus and overexposed and wonky and too dark? Wow, I see you have embraced a real bespoke style here.

You might like to use some editing software to make some basic adjustments and cropping to your pictures. A lot of this software is totally expensive and uses a suck-scription model. Luckily, there are some free options (I like Darktable) out there too.

Keep it simple….don’t get hung up on editing stuff. Some basic light and colour adjustments and perhaps a little cropping.

That’s it. That’s all I got. Time to stop reading and start do-ing. Enjoy the entire process. Enjoy being a magnificent photographer. Ahem…just like me.

Bonus step.

I know I said don’t get caught up in the gear acquisition…..but.

I am currently exploring the idea of printing my photos. Up until now, almost all my pictures live in the electronic noosphere… but photos want to live in the real world, don’t you think?

They want to be physical objects that you can hold and share, and stick in your journal, and make notes on the back, and organize into piles on the dining room table, and flip through, and store in boxes, and hand down, and rediscover in 5 years’ time between the pages of an old favorite book you are re-reading.

I think I am going to buy this small portable printer that makes postcard sized photos. It is a lot less expensive than the professional grade big printers. These prints can be quickly produced and would make perfect small giftlings. I’ll let you know how it goes if I pull the trigger.