Captured Passions: Seeing the World Through a Lens

It is in our encounters that passions can be birthed. People who naturally feel inclined towards certain things have origin stories for how their love for whatever it is they are passionate about started. For some, their parents may have been into it, and then they picked it up from there. Others probably stumbled on something on YouTube and liked it very much, and that's how it all began for them. Today, I will be talking about photography, how it started for me, how it's going, and what I may turn it into in the future.

Recently, I was at our National Youth Service Corps orientation camp for three weeks. After completion, the majority of people I interacted with knew me for one thing, and that was being the guy with his phone's camera in the air, taking photographs and videos at the slightest chance he had. And, after showing them the shots, they'd usually give compliments.

Many people generally assumed that I was a photographer by profession or something, when in reality I was only a guy who was passionate about photography and tried to seize every opportunity to learn and improve. They'd usually want me to take shots of them whenever I was "doing my thing" again, and, considering that I enjoyed it, I'd always oblige. It wasn't always like that, however.

I never cared much about photography before the pandemic. I had only seen my cousin's interest in photography and how he'd take really good shots, but I never really looked at it like he did. We hung out a lot, though, and that passion started to rub off on me over time. I picked up a few things about how he approached photography—subconsciously, maybe—and began to think likewise soon enough.

I got my first powerful phone—so to speak—a couple of months before the pandemic started, and that's when it all started to manifest—the affinity for photography. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro had a very capable camera system for its low cost, alongside other impressive features like its processor, battery size, and durability, and all that made me feel excited about exploring its potential. That's how my inclination towards spontaneous photography was born. Ever since then, my passion for photography has only waxed stronger, and I got better every time I kept trying.

Not to toot my own horn, but I think it is safe to say that well over ninety percent of my posts published here on Hive in the last eight months or so contain my original photos. That is to say, I have been using my own photographs most of the time for a very long time now. It is something I would like to be proud of because, well, I think my posts feel like they are "entirely mine" when I use my own photos alongside my words.

I make a conscious effort to take photographs as best as I can and turn them into something that's meaningful to my own eyes and then to the eyes of other people. The photographs I take and show here are invariably reflections of my personality, and personality adds colour. And, thankfully, many people leave me comments that generally tell me that my effort in my photos appeals to them. Critics come as well, but I embrace them.

These days, the thoughts of levelling up have been recurring quite frequently. Every photo I have ever taken and shared has been taken with my mobile phone camera. There's only so much that the phone camera can do, although the phone I use now is a beastly machine with photos, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro, and that's why I went to the ends of the earth to get it in the first place.

I am considering getting an actual camera and some extra basic setup to take this thing to the next level. The billion-dollar question for me, however, is, "What, then, am I going to do with all that skill and gear when I do level high enough?" The answer to that question is what I have been contemplating a lot recently.

"How come you are not earning money from it?" "You should start up a niche around photography and bag a lot of cash with it." "You have the skills, make money!"

...are what I hear these days from the people who have seen what I can do so far. My response is usually, "Meh, I just enjoy doing it. I am not ready to invest so much and pursue something in it." The contradiction in that statement, however, is that I am willing to invest in it—time, effort, and money—but not with the perspective of "making money in return." How ridiculous, now that I say these out loud!

Can I really make money from it?

Heck, yeah! I just need to think within and outside the box of things that would make me unique and essentially solid in that field, which would make my work sell itself by itself. I do need to level up first, though. But the idea is to monetize what I am building someday.

Recently, I paid a lot of money to get a few photographs for my convocation ceremony at the university I graduated from. The truth is, I have a tripod now and can take photographs by myself, and they'd turn out okay. What I do not have, however, is an actual camera for much better quality, studio equipment like softboxes and flash, and even experience with Photoshop to achieve exactly what I was looking for. So I had to turn to a photographer who had the things I was missing and pay them for them.

Just like we have it now and have always had it for years, people will always need actual photographers to document certain memories. People would always pay for that.

Another way to make money with photography is by doing product photography. One would take photographs of products—drinks, clothes, anything—in appealing ways that would actually draw the attention of potential customers. Also, there are platforms—many of them, in fact—where one can make good money for their work with photography. For one, there's Hive, where original content is appreciated.

These are my thoughts here and now. In little ways, I am trying to bring them to fruition. Until then, I will keep trying to upskill and doing what I do—taking photos regularly and with joy. Let's see how that goes. Thank you for reading!