I love to take pictures. I would not for a second consider myself a photographer--I'll leave that up to the professionals--but I do enjoy any time I can get out and play around with my camera and see what kind of shots I can come up with. But if I don't want to do this for a living, then why the heck do I choose to take my camera almost everywhere I go, spend money on the batteries that my camera sucks up by the hour, and spend hours editing my pictures when I should be doing homework? There are many more, but I'm going to give you my top 5 reasons why everyone should grab a camera and take pictures.
1. Cure for boredom. Have you ever been on a less than exciting tour of some historic landmark that you know you should be appreciating and gleaning all the information you possibly can from your guide, but instead you are taken back to your Monday morning 8:00am lecture where your eyes are shut more than they are open? If you ever find yourself in that situation, take a camera. Don't be rude and start snapping weird shots of the people in your tour group, but hang behind the group as you are walking through and see what kind of cool shots of the landmark you can get. You might surprise yourself.
2. Prime Instagram and Facebook material. Let's be honest. We are all (ok, not all, but most of us) looking for the next Instagram or Facebook post that will give us more than a few likes and boost our self-esteem for the day. Newsflash people: do us all a favor and quit sharing your duck face selfies. Instead, get creative with what is around you, and post that. Add a filter, of course. But I guarantee you that a classy landscape picture will get more likes than your selfie. If not, we have an issue with you follows you.
3. All the great moments--and maybe some of the not so great moments--will be documented. My Mom had a camera in my face since the day I was born. My life has been well-documented, and though sometimes I would be less than thrilled about my Mom taking pictures, it is fun to look back at what a weirdo I was (and to realize that sadly nothing has changed).
4. You can actually pretend like you actually have some artistic talent. Editing is a beautiful thing. Boost the saturation here, the contrast there, and finish with some sharpening and cropping, and you are golden.
5. Memories. Ah, yes. Time to be sentimental (which is far from my comfort zone). Memories are images imprinted in our minds, but it doesn't hurt to have tangible images, either. I have only regretted the pictures I haven't taken.
So grab a camera (or your phone for that matter), and start taking pictures. Don't get crazy like Anthony Weiner (sorry, had to add something political in here), but take pictures that mean something. You won't regret it.
