For The Love Of Art

Albert Pedrosa
Photo Mania

THERE'S a lot of DSLR buyers today and a lot of them has different reasons for getting one. Some were encouraged by friends while others are inspired by work of other photographers. There are also those who buy it as an upgrade to their compact cameras.

Some would probably just use it as a fashion accessory.

No matter what reason why you ended up with a DSLR in your hands, I believe that it is an opportunity for you to delve into the world of photography. Just like in any opportunity, one has to be explored and experienced before it can be realized. One has to learn and appreciate photography as a tool for art in order to create your own art.

There are many genres in photography that you might want to try out. There’s fashion, portrait, landscape, product, macro, travel, food, abstract and the rest. They all fall into the same basic principles of photography but varies a lot in subject, style and presentation. Therefore, it won’t be difficult to try different genres. What’s important is to choose a few and spend time with it until you find the right genre for you.

You can be a photographer and be somebody else at the same time. You don’t have to become a photographer for a fee, photography can be your avenue to express your art.

Although, wouldn’t it be nice to shoot and get paid at the same time. One thing’s for sure, your friends and family photos would definitely look a lot better.

My friend, music man Jay Young, started learning photography about a year ago. Just like any other beginner, he started shooting with full auto mode. Learning photography from the school of hard knocks, he paced himself trying out different genres. Lately, he developed a very surprising art capturing smoke in its different forms and colors.

He learned about this technique in an online tutorial and after many experiments, he was able to try it out with different methods. Through his experiments, he added some twist and later on developed his own technique. The result is an abstract photo.

You’d probably be just shooting your family with a DSLR or as serious as celebrity or fashion photographer, they all have a common denominator, photography. They both talk about exposure and composition which are essential in any genre of photography.

Whether you learn photography from a certain workshop or through self learning, it is important to establish a strong foundation and good appreciation of the art form. Get to know the masters who influenced a certain genre during their time and study their pieces. It is through their work that we are in this trend right now.

Be inspired and keep on shooting those beautiful memories. Keep on shooting everyone. For comments and suggestions, you may email me at photography.gpr.ph