Amatuer Photographer

I've always been a guy of the arts.
You know,writing, drawing, acting, singing, dancing.
I'm not that good at all of them,
but I like to think I hold a fair amount of skill.
In addition to those, though,
I've always been intrigued by photography.

I suppose you can saw it started in high school.
I had started working for the literary magazine as an Art editor,
but I sometimes reviewed photography as well.
I was still more taken in my visual art than photos,
but they still sparked something in my mind,
a wick that led to a stick of dynamite labeled "I Can Do That."
Junior year was the year it exploded
and I began taking pictures with my mother's digital camera.
Sometimes I would upload them and edit them with Photoshop.
Only if I wanted to play with the effects or lighting of a picture.
Usually I just let it be.

I took okay pictures, some of which turned out fairly well.
The last time I really shot photos was August 2007
when I was away in Edinburgh, Scotland for a Theatre Festival.
After that, I had to leave my mother's camera in Jersey
as I began college down here in Baltimore.

Since then,
I've been taking little photos on my camera phone.
Usually it's sunsets and other miscellanous things.
I just felt it necessary to keep up what little photography I did.
This past Christmas, though,
I'm happy to say my mother gave me my own digital camera.
It's not as good as the one she had,
but it's small and managable.
I went on a little walk last night to see how it handled.
I probably should have read the instructional booklet,
but where's the fun in that.
I got a couple of okay shots,
most of them came out blurrier than they seemed in the preview.
[kanye shrug]

I'm still hoping to get a hold of a real camera.
You know, the kind that you have to focus yourself,
the kind a few of my friends have,
who produce excellent photography.
Maybe I'll take a class on photography before I graduate.
Maybe.

Because...
a picture just might inspire a thousand words in me.
Word.