Putting the joy back in photography

I took three years of photography in high school, including the AP course. I loved spending hours taking pictures – usually macro of details of something ordinary at an unusual angle.

I loved even more spending time in the dark room, developing the film and printing the pictures, trying to get the light and shadows just right.

I was never the most talented in class and just eeked by a pass in the AP test. But I loved it. It fueled a creative park of me that I didn’t know my math-nerd, literature-loving self had. It gave me a sense of belonging with a group of kids I wouldn’t normally be around.

Somehow I got caught up on the blog with taking pictures for a purpose rather than taking pictures with a passion.

Fact is, I’m not passionate about taking food pictures. Sometime I do it to show you something amazing I ate. But it doesn’t fuel me creatively.

I’ll take a picture to show you an awesome new product I got to try, food, beauty, clothing or otherwise. Again, I love sharing these things with you. But they don’t give me the peaceful feeling that I used to associate with photography.

I miss film. I miss having a darkroom. But I probably won’t use either anytime soon. I’m still not the best photographer, or the best photo editor.

But I’m going to work on using my digital camera to capture more beauty for the sake of beauty.

And yes, Maizey qualifies as beauty.

what hobby brings you joy? Do you still do it regularly?