This summer was sort of a downer for me. I had a lot of time on my hands and very little resources to go with it. On top of that, it is very easy to fall into a mid-summer slump a few weeks into break and just not feel like doing anything. Around the time my slump had hit, though, I remembered that I had bought a camera for a photography course last year. Since then, it had just been collecting dust on a table. I don't really consider myself an artsy person, but I figured that I might as well use my camera instead of letting it go to waste. What ended up happening was the start of a new hobby for the summer and hopefully for the coming year. If you own a camera, or even a smartphone, do yourself a favor and start taking pictures. Start taking a lot of pictures.
I have a farm behind my house that I sometimes like to visit. It's only a short walk through a nature trail and has horses, pigs, cows, and all of your typical farm animals there. It seemed like a good place to start.
I spent a good hour walking around the farm and taking a few pictures of the animals and plants around there. Do note that it might take a while to get a good shot. At one point, I spent around 10 minutes waiting for a chicken to turn around so I could take a picture of its face.
However, during the trip, I snapped a few really nice photographs which I then re-sized and edited to bring out colors and sharpen the images. I hate to boast, but it was rewarding to have some of my friends compliment something that I had worked hard on.
Photography is not at all like drawing or painting. If you want to become good at those, you need to practice for weeks or months to even become somewhat decent at what it is you're doing. Because of this, drawing and painting can be relatively hard to pick up as a hobby unless you either have some skill already, or just a lot of time.
Photography, on the other hand, has a much different learning curve. Anyone can be a good photographer on their first day. People who use Instagram can actually take rather impressive photos without the need for hours of instruction from a professor. This makes photography very easy to learn. However, I don't mean to trivialize the art form. While starting photography can be quickly rewarding and fun, becoming a great photographer takes immense amounts of skill and patience that many cannot copy immediately. Don't let that discourage you, though. I'm sure you will be take some incredible shots with only modest practice.
It might just be my personal opinion, but people should take a few less selfies and focus the lens on something else. Use photography as an excuse to go outside or to document fun memories. Another daily selfie on Instagram probably wont mean that much to you a few months from now, but taking a carefully planned out picture that you can be proud of might. In any case, next time you find yourself bored and with nothing to do, try breaking out a camera. You might find it fun.
