PHOTOGRAPHY

… my passion

Well, when I talk about something beeing my passion I mean something that I do with all my heart & soul without having to do it. I do it just because I like it.

My first contact with photography happened when I was a little boy. I had always been very curious about everything that was technical… there was almost no device at home wich had not been "raped" by my screw-driver … I just wanted to know how things worked. So, there was this shiny, new camera ( a Canon AE-1 wich I still hold in my possesion… thanx dad!) wich my father had brought home. Hey, it was the end of the 70´s… a camera was still something special! But, at that age it was too complicated (and big) for me… and he would not allow me to take it out during my "wild adventures in the woods"… wich ment me climbing up the trees in the garden  :-)

So, I always had my eyes put on that cam… but my first, own cam was a little, red Konika automatic one (don´t ask me wich model… I still have her (yes, cameras are female!), but it´s somewhere burried in a box. Yes, a so-called "point-and-shoot" cam. The ones you get for free when you buy a pizza . This is the first cam I can really remember using with dedication. What most amazed me about it was… that you only had to push a button… and the flash jumped out!!  Incredible, isn´t it??? I remember pushing the button many, many times… just to see the flash jump out . I took her along with me during my first "adult" vacation (ok, I was only 13… but I considered myself an adult!) and made some pictures during that trip in Europe, mostly in Germany. When I look at those pictures… (I have a metallic box where I hold all of my former "printed" pictures) I can identify the "eye of the photographer" I was ment to be many years later. Many, many details and composition ideas, bright colours and "special" perspectives.
After school I took a long (too long for my parents… hehehe) break and enjoyed life at the beach and wild parties. During this time I took classes of photography at an institute in Lima, Peru. Actually the main idea of this was to get to know girls (this institute was well know for having pretty girls… hehehe) but it also waked up my passion for the craft. It was the "old" school of black/white photography, including chemical treatmet of film and colour theory. We had much, much fun during classes (everybody looks funny with bright red light in a room… "digital"-kids don´t know this, but the red light is need for the chemical treatment of film) and allthough I cannot really remember many of the rules and laws they tought us, I think it put the "basics" of photography into my mind.
After that I took a really long break with photography… the first personal computers (VIC 20, Commodore 64, Synclaire Zx81, etc) were muuuuch more interesting . Today, I regret not having spent more time with pictures during this long time… I kind of have "lost" many years of my life without a "pictured" memory of it. Big mistake… I am glad some other friends took some, but if it wasn´t for them… there would be only be my mental memory depicting a long time in my life. Most people say abotu photography, that the biggest joy about them is that they kind of "freeze" a moment in life, capturing the mood and feeling in that very second… I agree. It even helps you out in refreshing some moments ("This was your former girl-friend??????"…"Errrr…. yeah… kind of had her looking different in my mind!" ) .

So, some years later after having worked in some companies as a financial controller (long, long story….) I decided that I wanted to realize my own dreams and ideas (and not the one of the share-holders…) and I founded my little company and went freelance. Perhaps I will tell about it later, but let´s say that it had lots to do with offering products through the internet and having to present them in a "graphical" way… speak, taking pictures of them. Allthough the whole idea almost took my to bankruptcy… some people noticed my pictures…. hehehe… not the products, but the pictures (funny, isn´t it??). So it came that one day an email arrived asking me if i had "some other kind of pictures". I answered affirmative, remembering my old passion for it. I sent them some examples and they told me, that they were good! In that very moment I realized… that this craft had been "sleeping" in my soul all of the years! Ok, I studied economics at the university… and I still like to talk about economical theories and mathematical models… but the thing that I really loved since I had been a little boy… was PHOTOGRAPHY! And that was the re-beginning of the passion. I quit the idea of "selling products" and begun offering my pictures. And you know what? IT WORKS … ok, I know very, very few people who can live from photography (and I am sure not one of them… not now ) but in combination with another job (part-time) it works out to be good, even speaking in financial terms.

In this part of my blog I will try to speak about photography techniques, ideas, experiences and gears. I will also share some interesting links and information I have. I hope you will like it!