Being a Photographer...

It was the beginning of 2012 and I'd decided for my birthday that I wanted a camera so, a camera I did get! A Fujifilm S4000 which has been a lovely little camera to start things off and although it has been very temperamental and has misbehaved on many occasions, I love it all the same and it's helped me create a lot of good photos. They say that it doesn't matter how good or expensive the camera is, it's the photographer that captures the good photos but I think it's a bit of both. As I said, I love my camera but I'm currently saving up for a new one which will be bigger and better. As you progress and get better as a photographer, you need a camera that will help you progress even further and I think that with my camera, I've reached my creative limits and there's only so much I can do with it whereas, with this new one that I'm wanting, it's a lot more manual and instead of relying on the camera to sort the details out for me, I can sort them myself and therefore make the image exactly how I want it to be.

When you officially start calling yourself a photographer, there are signs that you know you are one. I can't help it, I am constantly on the look out for a good photo whether I have my camera with me or not. Being a photographer completely opens your eyes to the world around you. The good and the bad. I mainly focus on the good though! I look at everything and everyone and I just end up smiling and looking like a complete idiot because when you sit back and observe, everything is just so beautiful! Okay, not everything but a heck of a lot of stuff is! I went out for a walk on my own with my camera the other day for a few hours and I saw couples out for a walk, holding hands and walking their dogs. I noticed all the different colours of Autumn- oranges, reds, yellows and browns- and how pretty everything looks. There were a few squirrels up in the trees and birds singing away as the sun set and that itself was amazing! I love being a photographer simply for the fact that it's opened my eyes and I don't think I'll ever close them again because you just enjoy life so much more when you can see everything.

Another perk is people's reactions to your work. As a photographer you bring out the best in things and people. If you're doing portraits, as you're taking photos of someone, you start to notice the best things about them like their eyes or their smile and you make sure those things are noticed in your photos. I let my models look through the unedited photos before I go away and edit them and every time I get a 'I love this one!' or 'I look so pretty!!' and it's little comments like that that make me think 'I've done a good job!' But it's also knowing that they'll then have that picture or those pictures to keep for as long as they want to. One of my models has a few of my pictures up in her living room because her parents wanted them printed and it's just knowing that I've captured those pictures and that they're good enough for someone to look at every day that helps keep me going.

I've done two weddings now and I've got another booked for next year. Weddings are terrifying! and I completely understand why photographers charge so much! You're in charge of capturing moments from one of the most important days of someone's life and not only that but they also have to be beautiful images that are good enough to be shown around to the bride and groom's family and friends and also good enough to be kept for the rest of their married life. Apart from the pictures that are actually posed, for the rest of the day you are literally capturing moments and you can't control moments so that itself is hard to do. I'm making this sound awful aren't I? It's not an awful job. It's an amazing job to photograph a wedding. It's just hard work. It's such a great feeling when someone chooses you to take photos for their wedding. You're like ... me? Seriously? And that's when you know that there are people who think your work is good. People have been telling me for years that I have a good eye for photography but I've never really listened and it isn't until people start paying for your work, that you actually do start thinking that you must have a talent for this or no-one would be actually paying for it. Apparently, I made my last bride actually cry because she was so happy with my work! I was nearly crying as well! Nothing compares to the feeling you get when you know you've made someone cry with happiness.

I'd seriously suggest photography being a main subject in schools simply because of it opening up people's eyes to the world around them and there could be soooo many amazing photographers out there that could capture beautiful images that need to be seen, but they just haven't thought about photography and don't know anything about cameras. Photos capture memories so even if people are taught about photography but don't pursue it as a career, at least they're able to take good photos when they need to and they then have that photo to look back at without a person missing a head or an arm or a sunset without the sun! You'd be surprised at what ridiculous photos people come out with that don't know how to use a camera.

People don't understand how hard it is being a photographer. I can't just pick up a camera and take a photo. I have to think about exposure, composition, whether the image is in focus or not and then of course the actual subject and how it looks best and then how it could be edited after. Editing itself takes half an hour at the least. But despite all of that, I love it. It's hard work but I love it! It's taken over my life and changed me but I wouldn't be who I am without this talent and I will continue with this for hopefully many more years!

So... pick up a camera! Get out there and take photos! Buy a photo album to put them all in because you'll thank yourself when you're older and you can look at those photos and remember all the good times.


Just in case you wanted to check out some of my work, here's a link to my Facebook page! :) https://www.facebook.com/BeckyJadePhotography