I am one who loved technology and gadgets. That still is me, but now my greatest passion is photography. Back in 2008 when I told a good friend I wanted to stop taking snapshots and start making “real” photos he advised me not to buy a entry DSLR plus kitlens (what I wanted to do). Instead he told me, buy a point and shoot with manual control and study photography.
So I did; I bought a Canon G9 and read every book, website, blog and listened to every podcast I could find about photography. I was hooked from the beginning and the more I read about the principles of photography and the more I brought those principles into practice, the more hooked I became. So after a year I bought my first Canon DSLR and it’s been photography all the way.
I have tried every form of photography I came across. Working in black and white after reading Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson; I did Macro photography after hearing about it in a podcast; I tried street photography after reading the blog of Eric Kim; dabbled in shooting portraits with speedlights after visiting the websites of David Hobby and Bert Stephani; shot actions photo’s after seeing videos of Chase Jarvis. But mostly I take photographs of the things I see around me.
What I like about photography in it’s current state is that I can use both my technical skills (computers, software, social media, etc.) and my creative “skills”; the actual taking of the photographs. In the past years I mostly advanced technically and now I’m at the point I’m trying to find my own look and advance creatively.
One of the steps in achieving that goal is joining a local photo-club. I’ve been a few times now and it’s great to talk with people that are also very enthusiastic about photography. I hope to get constructive critique from the members, especially on the creative side. I have noticed that most online photographic communities tend to have the principle: you say something nice to me, then I say something nice to you. Maybe good for the ego, but less for advancing the skills.
I also joined the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalks both days this year with Frank Doorhof and did a few workshops. These experiences were great, so I try to do more photowalks and workshops.
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Links
Website: http://vannuil.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/evannuil
Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/evannuil
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