Photography is the art of capturing emotions through images, which helps us to re-live those moments once again. During my early days in the city, I would see photographers only during some occasional events, capturing some of the precious moments of a wedding or some event. But those days are long gone; now one can find a photographer in every nook and corner of the city carrying a camera and randomly clicking pictures of the people passing by. This emerging trend leaves you wondering why photography has caught up with the city youth in the past couple of years.
If you’re still with me, you probably have the same questions as I do.
Personally, I think the following five reasons can be attributed to photography being a craze among the youth of Bhubaneswar.
Don’t Break the Bank to Have a Camera
Until five years ago, a DSLR camera was a pretty expensive thing to have and even a decent digital camera would cost anything between 8 to 10 thousand bucks. Similarly, the starting price of a DSLR from Canon or Nikon would cost around 30 thousand bucks. This prohibitive cost would naturally dissuade many ambitious photographers to invest in a camera.
Thankfully, today any person wanting to pursue photography is actually being able to afford a digital camera of their choice. Apart from being relatively cheaper and more accessible to many, quite a few basic digital cameras come loaded with plenty of features for any aspirant photographer to capture decent photographs. Moreover, emergence of shopping sites such as ebay, flipkart, and homeshop18 has dramatically changed the face of photography, making digital cameras and their accessories available at your doorstep at competitive prices. A wide range of digital cameras, DSLRs , lenses, tripods and other photography equipments can be ordered at discounted price and with easy EMI options.
Heck! Even I’ve saved enough pocket money to brag about my latest possession – Canon 1000D. You see owning a digital camera is that easy today and so is being a photographer. Just kidding 
A New Source of Hobby
Remember those days when a relative or a friend of yours would ask you about your hobby? One would typically end up with dancing, singing or reading, right? Well, those days are over and photography is the new in-thing today. From my very own experience at least 2 out of 5 would proclaim photography as their new hobby today.
It’s good to find people investing into this new hobby and engaging themselves in something creative. Don’t get irritated by their Facebook updates just yet. Relax dude; they are just hobbyists. If you have a camera, then you are a photographer regardless of the level of your photography skills. It takes an eternity to perfect your skills in any field anyways.
The Drug of Money and Fame
Drugs like cocane, LSD, opiums are addicitve but not as much as money and fame. There’s definitely something about being famous, being looked up to and hogging their attention across the social sphere. There’s a surge of self-esteem – much like how you feel when you’re under the influence of alcohol. Right?
Being famous – apparently that’s what everybody is obsessing over. The urge of being recognised and attention-grabber has a great influence on the pursuit of photography. Unlike conventional hobbies like dancing or singing, photography doesn’t probably need a platform to get recognised, unless you’re talking about Facebook. However, the truth is if you are a photographer by sheer passion, you can’t escape recognition or adulation . Unfortunately, other skills aren’t as visible to others. Roam around the city streets with a DSLR camera hanging from the neck and relish the attention. Make no mistake – some girls recognise photographers easily. Hence another reason to adopt photography.
All It Takes is a Facebook Page
We’ve become increasingly dependent on social network sites not just for staying in touch with friends but for nearly everything else. In fact, social sites play a vital role in influencing the budding photographers in the city. With sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flicker, and Photobucket, it‘s incredibly easy to share your shots with the world. Just a click is enough to share your photos and if you have a photography page on Facebook, it‘s even easier to build a decent number of fans in quick time. Goes without saying, you will find a wide range of facebook photography pages if you just type “photography” in the search box.
Moreover, with photography apps like instagram, you can post your photos on the fly. Hate it or hug it, photography, now a days, is like clicking a picture, editing it before adding a water mark to it and posting it online. I’m sure you will get at least 20+ likes and 30+ comments just for a photo of your old shoes. Just saying!
My Friend is a Professional Photographer
No kidding, but everybody has at least one friend in common who is a photographer. And when he shows you his awesome equipments and forwards the links to his photography page having a fan following of 4-5k , its obvious to get jealous of him. Frankly, nothing peps you up like jealousy
Like I mentioned earlier, the drug of fame does it all. Or maybe, your photographer friend had asked you to buy a camera and join a photography club so he could enjoy your company? Not sure! So you decided to buy a camera and start your very own photography page. But you ended up being some fame crazy paranoid and finally gave up by posting an ad on OLX or Quikr to sell your barely-used DSLR toy at a throw-away price.
Photography is all about passion , patience , and creativity. If you are a keen observer, good at composing a picture or have the creativity, it’s worth the leap. Else, the fad will soon wear off and you’ll find yourself regretting investing in that expensive camera instead of buying a new notebook. And, then the wisdom dawns upon you – well, maybe, it‘s not the expensive camera, or the photoshop tool that makes the photo beautiful but the person behind the lens has all the magical sense of observation and sense of timing to capture a beautiful moment.
So if you’ve deliberating on buying an expensive camear just because it seems cool to carry it around, you might want to rethink your strategy. You don’t wanna end up fooling yourself with a DSLR camera.
Authored by Sushree Pattanayak
Eric Chiu | Wedding Photographer
What an interesting take on professional photography! Indeed, a lot of folks can buy a DSLR and some can even afford expensive lenses. But it’s not the gadget that matters as much; it’s the skill and passion to improve one’s skill that does. Showing off your gadget is one thing but knowing how to use it in adverse lighting ambiance is quite another. That’s why not everybody can find the process of learning professional photography easy. Craze is short-term and once it wears off, your camera is relegated to some unknown corner of your living room, accumulating dust and moisture.