A Passion Reignited By Steem
By: Paola Jane
My 2018 has been shaped by the steem blockchain, and that is not an exaggeration, I am a full-time steemian now. It baffles me how life can just take a turn on you, and the path that your on just changes like its a season. In the beginning of 2017, I was a Dental Hygienist, and I thought I felt passionate about it. I also felt good being a Hygienist because having a “professional career” was how I was making others around me proud. Little did I know that steemit would change my life. Stick with me, this isn’t a post about how amazing steemit is, but rather how I found my hobby and now passion because of steemit.
Lets start in the beginning. I got my first camera when I was in high school a few years ago. The only memorable thing I did was take it to Europe with me for a summer and my photos where nothing special. After my trip, my camera ended up in a corner collecting dust while I got my Dental Hygiene Degree in college and I am okay with that. When I joined Steemit in December 2017, I rediscovered that I can express myself through my videos, and it’s something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. With my success on the platform, I used my earnings to reinvest into a better camera (I was borrowing 
After I got my camera I woke up one day and I didn’t feel like making a video, and thats how I would say photography made its way to me. I was feeling creative but sometimes, video making is a lot of work and I just wanted to enjoy the day. I was also confused because I thought that I was passionate about videography, therefore I should never wake up and feel this way. This same day I went out to a popular bridge in NYC and started taking pictures, and I enjoyed myself so much. I was lost in the moment, only worried about the scene, my angle, and my camera settings. I love when my mind isn’t wandering and thinking of a million different things, I like to be focused. Later that day, when I got home, I edited my photos and was amazed at what I could create and it wasn’t a video! I wrote an article called A Passion Reignited By Steem, where I expressed how I felt that day while taking the photographs. Put shortly, I felt great and I discovered a new hobby.
After this day I was hooked, and to be honest I almost like it more than videography. Making videos makes me stress sometimes, but with photography I am completely stress free. The most motivating aspect of exploring this new passion of mine is that I’m not horrible at it, the photographs I have taken are pretty impressive to me. It’s exciting to know you're good at something, and you can get even better! With videography I never have the impressed, satisfied feeling like I do with photography and thats why I love it so much already. I have been into photography and using it as a method of stress relief for a few months now, and I know things can change at any instant, but I highly doubt that this feeling for photography will fade.
I love to go out at night and explore different places in New York City, and its making me see where I live in a different, artistic perspective. I live in one of the biggest cities in the world and now I have a reason to go out and explore different areas of my home. I am an amateur, but I have already had a running start to the game, and thats the way I like it. The types of photography I am interested in are landscape, nighttime and self portraits. One thing that they all have in common is that they all rely on the creator and no one else, compared to videography I always need someone’s help for something, its annoying! I love relying on myself to create, I love being in charge and saying that that photo is mine, created by me and me only.
One of my biggest goals is to show the community that there is more to New York than just the city. I have plans to travel to different areas of the state and encourage people to visit different areas of New York. There are mountains, waterfalls, and architecture that I want to see and capture. With this, not only will I be able to show my work, but I will be able to practice and sharpen my new skill by putting myself into new enviornments. I feel that in order to improve, I need to just go out there and keep sharing my work. Like I said, I really love landscape photography, so I want to do just that. Soon, I will be heading to the Adirondak Mountains to get some, hopefully amazing shots.
In terms of equipment, I want to keep investing in new equipment when I can, cameras and equipment are not cheap. I don’t want to get too carried away when buying equipment, all I honestly want is a good quality zoom lens. The camera that I am using is a Canon EOS M6, and I think its the perfect camera for me right now. I used my steem earnings to purchase this camera, along with a 22mm f/2.0 prime lens. I think its perfect because I can vlog, take good quality photos, and take it with me wherever I go. In the year of 2018, this camera will stay charged and on me at all times, no matter if I have no plan to shoot or record for the day.
