Am I Literate?

Everyone has a skill or hobby that they are good at. We build on these skills till we become literate enough in that skill to make good use out of it. Some people are literate at baking and can memorize recipes and alter ingredients to put a new spin on it. One of my favorite hobbies is photography. I may not be a pro at it yet, but I am literate in the world of photography and am willing to learn so much more.

As with most children, as I was growing up, my parents always wanted to take pictures of me, whether for religious occasions, holidays, or annual family photos. I was very photogenic. As I grew older and saw my mom and grandma always taking pictures, I eventually wanted my own camera so that I could take pictures too. One year, for Christmas my mom had finally gotten me a digital camera, and it was pink, which made it even better.

With any new toy, all you ever want to do is play with it. For the rest of the day, all I did was take pictures of everything – presents being opened, family sitting together on the couch, the tree. I had a lot of fun with it. I tried to find any reason for me to take a picture with my new camera. The only interesting thing in my house to take a picture of, though, was my cat, so whenever I was out, I tried to find something pretty to take a picture of.

When I was in eighth grade, I went on a class trip to Washington D.C. Needless to say, my camera was out almost 24/7. I took pictures of everything – statues, buildings, my friends, and probably even the ice-cream on my face. From then on, any time I went on vacation, even to today, I always have a camera with me and will make everyone stop every twenty seconds so I can take a picture of something. That really started to annoy my sister when I did that on our last trip to Disney World. I always felt like there was something interesting to take a picture of, and I wanted to remember all of it.

For a while, I found photography as mainly a hobby for personal uses, whether it be to remember vacations or documenting nature, which was always beautiful. Once I started college, a friend of mine introduced me to the school newspaper, The Anchor, and I became a wanna-be professional photographer. I always took more pictures than I needed, which really bugged my boss because he was the one who had to filter through all of them. I learned how to use a professional camera, at least as much as I could learn without confusing myself, and played around with it as I attended many campus events. Each location had a different setting and purpose, so I learned to adjust my camera to the specific needs of the event, including shutter-speed and light density. After a year of being a photographer for the paper, I bumped my way up to Photo Editor, where I learned how to use the software to edit photos to have them printed in the paper. It was time-consuming, but it was a job that I loved because photography was such a passion of mine.

I only stayed in that position for a short time before I came over-worked with school, but I never let that get in the way of my passion for photography. I still love taking pictures and turning them into something amazing. 

When I was back in high school, my grandma also got me hooked on scrapbooking. She went on lots of cruises and took lots of pictures, aligning them all in a beautiful scrapbook with lots of decorations. She began buying me some scrapbook pieces, like paper and sticker decals, and I began displaying my pictures. When I was younger, I only put my pictures in photo albums so that I could flip through them and share my memories, but now, it has become an art. My first scrapbook was quite a project – I began looking through all my childhood photos, picked out my favorite, put them in chronological order, and made my own personal scrapbook.  I had so much fun putting all the pages together and adding personal touches, whether it was some ribbon, stickers, or a phrase. I felt proud of myself for what I had accomplished and felt like I had to show it off to everyone just so I could show them how good I was.

Having these skills has given me a new perspective – being able to see things differently than most people and viewing things in a different lens. I have developed a photographer’s eye and can see so many details that most people ignore or overlook. Sure, for now that may only mean I can see the flowers when most people only see the garden, but in the future, I think it will help me build a perspective that most people wouldn’t otherwise see.

In the future, I hope to become a teacher. Sure I can use photography in the classroom (pending consent of the students and parents), but the skills that photography has provided me with could be used even more. I can look at a situation from many angles and decide which angle I like. I also have a more artistic thought, so I can hopefully make learning fun and appealing. I am not saying that this is what I am expecting to happen, but I would love to find a way to let my photography follow me anywhere I go and use it to create my own lens and a new perspective.