Photography As a Hobby

Self Portrait - Circa 2007

Most people up to my generation including me had to grow up with the fact that photography was an expensive hobby. Something, which was the prerogative of either the well off people or the poor mavericks who never bothered where the money went. Others were of the opinion that you required both Michael Angelo’s brains and a rich uncle to support this hobby. Nothing could be far from the truth now.


Digital photography has created a revolution much like what has happened with the advent of the Personal Desktop Computer. You don’t even need to buy a camera to start experimenting with photography. With camera phones getting cheaper by the day, all you require is a thirst for seeking the right knowledge and the eagerness to learn.  If you have any creative talent be it in any stream, you will take to photography like fish to water.  For the rest of the folks out there who feel creatively challenged, do not worry. Any skill can be learnt. There are no born photographers.

As with any hobby, you could either start small or throw money to get expensive gear. My humble piece of advice would be: Don’t envision yourself with big telephoto lenses, camera bag slung on the shoulder with tripods to boot. Start small and simple. Most of you would be having a consumer camera boasting of at least 3 mega pixels with the latest ones hovering around 12 megapixels. They don’t mean much unless you plan to have a HUGE poster made out of your photograph. So cut the superiority complex if you have any on account of those extra megapixels : )

In the busy humdrum of daily life, we seldom get time to reflect upon ourselves and the environment around us. Photography clearly brings out the observation skills that all of us inherently posses but are too lazy to put into practice. It brings about our innate expressions, captures the mood we are in and is an excellent way to channelize the creativity within. For all the harried people out there who think Yoga is the only way out, Photography definitely helps in improving your patience levels.

So keep tuned in to this blog for some bare basic tips on getting started in photography in simple no nonsense jargon free lingo, that even a Dodo could understand. They’re extinct, so I’m not getting sued anyways.