Hello Steemers! My name is Mike and I am new to Steemit. I recently heard about this platform and everything it has to offer. I like the idea of block chain and I think it’s a good place to be in if you’re really about being authentic to an audience that is willing to listen. I’ve categorized my main hobbies. I hope that what I have to offer can be a benefit to this community and to anyone that reads this so let’s get started!
Art:
So in middle school I took an art class and once I took it I couldn’t stop drawing haha. Every day I would go home right after school and go straight to drawing. I would draw things like dragons and barbarians, a lot of doodling. By 8th grade I was in the highest level art class that was offered, my peers would try to ask me for tips and such. I had a great art teacher as well, he was very encouraging towards my work. It was definitely helpful that he started teaching at the high school I was going to. I would say he’s the person who got me into art.
Once I got into high school I didn’t do much art for the first two years. I got caught up in school work and friends. But then I took a drawing class in 11th grade. I quickly got back into the flow of things and was doing more of perspective work and realism. During this time I also found out about AP art class, at the level of drawing I was already at I thought I could give it a shot. Thankfully my old art teacher was the one that taught this class as well. Shortly after making my decision, I was so determined to get into this class, being with the best artists in a school of over 4,000 students. That gave me a drive I never thought I had. For six months I practiced realism and different mediums like graphite, charcoal, acrylic, etc. Every day after school I would go home and just do art nonstop. I would try to finish all my homework during school just so I could practice art. Even on weekends I would be doing art instead of hanging out with friends.
Near the end of junior year my work was good enough to get into the class and my art teacher who was deciding who should be in the class was totally impressed by my work. One day I decided to post one of my first legit drawings on facebook. It was a drawing of Obi Wan Kanobi and I posted it just to see what family and friends would think. I got a ton of positive feedback from so many people. I was so surprised, my family was amazed by this since this was the first legit drawing people saw from me. Once senior year started I had already made multiple pieces and I was very motivated in AP art, it was a good environment that was competitive and fun. I was learning from certain artists that were better than me and thriving off the advice and critique I received. I was so determined to see how good I could get, and when I was in this competitive environment with an instructor that’s known me for 7 years and completely understand my style of work, that made way for some good results.
By the end of senior year I was already making pieces that were getting a lot of attention from my class, not just my class but also a lot of my school. I also made two AP portfolios in one year instead of the single portfolio that’s required. Now I just do art every once in a while when I’m not busy with work or school or if I need to make any extra money.
Photography:
Photography, something I have definitely taken seriously in the last 3 years. As I was doing art in high school, I found an interest in photography and it quickly turned into a strong passion of mine. I like taking pictures of landscapes and recently have been doing just people as a subject matter. I like photography because if I am going on a trip or just exploring. By having the photos, I get to bring those memories and stories back with me. One of my favorite photographers Alex Strohl once said that you have one life, when you’re on your deathbed, the one thing you’ll have are the memories and I think photography is the best way to capture those memories.
Someday I would like to travel the world and be an adventure photographer. My dad is pretty much a mountain man and I spent 8 years in scouts eventually getting my Eagle Scout so I grew up camping and experiencing what the wilderness has to offer. What I like about both photography and art is that you get to see your progress. This goes especially for photography since in my opinion it’s easier to see change in style. One thing I realized is that living in California has made a lot of my photography very focused on warm colors and sometimes vintage styles.
Social Media Marketing:
I work with a lot of people’s social media accounts. Whether they’re trying to expand their own brand or just want to improve their own personal accounts. I give people advice and tips on how they can improve their content and strategies. I work with Instagram mostly because I am most comfortable with that platform, although I have worked with people’s accounts on facebook, snapchat, and youtube as well. For fun a friend and I decided to make a photography hub, within the first year we already had over 23,000 followers. All it takes is patience and consistency. One thing I’ve noticed for a while is that Instagram is too polluted. It’s an amazing platform but nowadays there’s a lot of spam and bots. Overall it’s getting harder and harder to grow an authentic account on a lot of platforms now, especially Instagram. And I keep getting the question on how to make an authentic account more and more as time goes on. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I LOVE the idea of Steemit. When I first heard about this platform, I went bonkers over it! A platform that’s like Reddit except you’re getting paid and authenticity actually means something. It’s looked at as a serious thing and that’s something you can’t really find any more on other platforms. So those are really my main passions and hopefully I can inspire some of you guys with my interests and hobbies in the near future. If you guys have any questions please leave them down below!