“When we share, we open doors to a new beginning.” - Paul Bradley Smith 

Hello everyone!

Friends call me Ron. I'm a full time Manager at a multinational company & Photographer (?) - at least this is what I like to think about myself - for the rest of the time (maybe you'll decide if I'm right or wrong).  So, I guess that my hobbies would be trading, selling, managing things, hiring/firing people, but NO, actually my main passion is Photography!

By courtesy of my good friend Dan (actually you can check his profile here: @thednp), I found out about this community and I decided to sign up right away. We know each other for almost 2 decades now and he thinks that my knowledge in the field would be valuable and much appreciated in this site. We'll see! So, I am here to share with you from what I've learned about Photography and to find new things from you.

The story...

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed are solely my own and do not necessarily relate to all photographers.  Any resemblance to reality and to other photographers' experiences is purely accidental.

Now, what about the title?

So, I bought my first camera back in 2007. And, like Baruch’s Observation regarding one of Murphy's law:

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

I started to shoot! What is so hard? Press that button, sucker! And shoot! Shoot again! And again... No matter what the results were, my main goal was to shoot.

Sounds familiar? We all gone through this phase in the beginning. And I ended up taking pictures like this one (actually this is my 13th image ever taken; to be bad luck? at least I'm not superstitious!):

For a while it did not bother me... But, I was looking at other's pictures and I saw a huge difference! And I asked myself: is it me or is it the camera? It couldn't be me (I'm too good, right?), so must be the camera, for sure! So I bought a new lens (not a very expensive one, because my budget was low), but my results didn't improve considerably. After couple of years, I traded my old kit and I got a brand new camera thinking that it would take pictures by itself and will do the job for me. Unfortunately, nor did that happen!

After investing money on new gear, I found (on hard way) that it wasn't the camera, it was ME. Me not knowing what to "ask" from camera. So, it was time for investments (again?), but this one was about taking time to understand and learn, starting from User's manual of my camera to basic settings (ISO-shutter-aperture triangle), composition, design, color, editing...

Actually, the learning curve has 2 components:

1. Theoretical - when you study, ask, find out what you should do
2. Practical - where you put into practice what you've learned

AND, very important: LEARNING CURVE NEVER STOPS!

So, after years from my first camera, I understood that only hard work and practice could offer me the results that I was aiming for. And what better reward of your time and money investment than winning a national contest and for your picture to appear on a calendar would be?

Conclusion

I would dare to give some recommendations for those who want to start Photography, they are at the beginning or they are not satisfied with their results:

WORK HARD

Trust yourself

Be patient

Don't give up

Learn from your mistakes

WORD HARDER

Start with basics

Know your gear

Learn theoretical stuff

Put into practice what you've learned

WORK EVEN HARDER

PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

I wasn't entered into details, settings, equipment and other stuff right now, will keep this for future posts.

If you liked my story or have any questions please Upvote, Follow and Comment below!

Thank you!

See you soon!