Open Your Mind and Find Talents You Never Knew You Had

During my years of high school, video production had been a huge passion of mine. I enjoyed going to various events with a video camera and tripod and could spend several hours in an editing room. Video production was something I was good at and found myself yearning to do more of.

While I spent lots of time in editing rooms with the footage I had taken, doing digital photography with still pictures was something I never considered. I was closed minded at the time and didn't think the skills could really translate. I enjoyed working with moving pictures instead of still images and never gave thought to using a still camera.

When high school ended, I moved away from home and decided to become more open minded in regards to trying different activities. I hadn't planned on learning digital photography before I went to college but eventually picked up the hobby...on accident.

I was scheduled to help out with a promotional event with our campus radio station and decided to bring my small digital camera with me. I decided that while I was in college, I may as well have something to capture the memories with. I took the time to take several pictures at the event and didn't think much of them when I edited them.

After the photos were edited, I received lots of positive feedback from the people who worked at the radio station. As a result, I started taking more pictures at different events and received similar feedback. When we got done with one event in particular, my friend Cat mentioned something I hadn't given much thought to:

"You ought to become a photographer."

It was just an idea but enough for me to want to pursue the hobby even more. I ended up upgrading to a larger camera, took a photography class and a new hobby was born! I went from taking pictures at campus radio station events to sporting events and charity events.

During this time, I realized I was developing the same passion I had for video production. I was motivated to improve my technique, get out with the camera and find different events to take pictures at. I was enjoying a hobby I closed myself off to in high school but found a passion when I became more open minded about giving it a try.