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\u00a0corner\u00a0of 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.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re still with me, you probably have the same questions as I do.<\/p>\n
Personally, I think the following five reasons can be attributed to photography being a craze among the youth of Bhubaneswar.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Heck! Even I\u2019ve saved enough pocket money to brag about my latest possession \u2013 Canon 1000D. You see owning a digital camera is that easy today and so is being a photographer. Just kidding <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s good to find people investing into this new hobby and engaging themselves in something creative. Don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Drugs like cocane, LSD, opiums are addicitve but not as much as money and fame. There\u2019s definitely something about being famous, being looked up to and hogging their attention across the social sphere. There\u2019s a surge of self-esteem \u2013 much like how you feel when you\u2019re under the influence of alcohol. Right?<\/p>\n
Being famous \u2013 apparently that\u2019s 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\u2019t probably need a platform to get recognised, unless you\u2019re talking about Facebook. However, the truth is if you are a photographer by sheer passion, you can\u2019t escape recognition or adulation . Unfortunately, other skills aren\u2019t as visible to others. Roam around the city streets with a DSLR camera hanging from the neck and relish the attention. Make no mistake \u2013 some girls recognise photographers easily. Hence another reason to adopt photography.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve 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\u2018s 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\u2018s 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 \u201cphotography\u201d in the search box.<\/p>\n
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\u2019m sure you will get at least 20+ likes and 30+ comments just for a photo of your old shoes. Just saying!<\/p>\n
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 <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Photography is all about passion , patience , and creativity. If you are a keen observer, good at composing a picture or have the creativity, it\u2019s worth the leap. Else, the fad will soon wear off and you\u2019ll find yourself regretting investing in that expensive camera instead of buying a new notebook. And, then the wisdom dawns upon you \u2013 well, maybe, it\u2018s 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.<\/p>\n
So if you\u2019ve deliberating on buying an expensive camear just because it seems cool to carry it around, you might want to rethink your strategy. You don\u2019t wanna end up fooling yourself with a DSLR camera.<\/p>\n