A long time ago, when I was about six years old, I loved taking pictures of many-many things I've came across with - mostly nature. Of course, I had a small, film camera, with fixed, 35 mm lens, so the pictures were... well, they were not really good.
Years later I received a 35-70mm zoom Carena, film of course - it was my mother's, and I got it after my parents bought themselves a film Nikon SLR. I used it for a long time, made some good pictures with it, but I didn't used it consciously. Just in point-and-shoot mode. It was a good one, until it had a dive in the river Rába. After that, photography went standby in my life, for long time.
A change came in 2004, when I went skiing with my friends. I borrowed a small, 3MP digital, and I saw one of the most beautiful frozen landscape ever, and the inner need for taking photos hit me once again. I decided to take a photography course, to learn the technical details - and I started learning on a Contax RTS.
In a while I turned my interest towards the digital world, mostly because the slow feedback. I couldn't afford a DSLR in 2006, so I bought myself a Fuji S5500. (I still regret I sold that machine, I probably made some of my best pictures with it.) I was still taking photos with it the same way as to film: meter, calculate, decide what I want on the picture, and only shoot when everything is in place and when the view definitely worth it. After a time I started to feel the need for something faster and to be honest: I never liked the electronic view.
I got my DSLR body as a birthday present from my family - Nikon D80. I was in love with that machine, and I'm still, but at about a month ago I realized I nearly put photography to standby once again.
I wanted to evolve, to learn as much as I can, so I went to take photos on parties, shows, events, and nevertheless 'hunting' the pictures. I was watching around, to see something marvellous, something exceptional to capture. As time was passing I felt I'm doing something wrong. That I don't see things more, nothing interesting comes, and going to event photography made me feel a bit sick, that it's totally worthless.
Some people dreams pictures, and makes a nearly ordinary shoot, sit down in front of Photoshop, makes the magic, and create something remarkable. This is art, but I think is nearly as far from photography as painting.
For a long time I tried to find spectacular things and moments. Lately I realised, that I'll never good enough photos this way only if I'm at some place exceptional. So I decided to go with a new approach: imagine and then find.
Imagine something, then get your photo bag and go on a trip, search for your imagination, it will be out there somewhere, just just need to look deep enough.
This entry was written by Peter Molnar, and originally posted on petermolnar dot net.
