Photography

I bought my first real camera (Fujifilm X100F) in 2017 and started to try photography more seriously. I changed my mindset from recording as much information as I can to (i) recording an interesting aspect; (ii) create a beautiful picture.

Over the time, I developed a stronger preference of (i) over (ii). I like to go through some random photos in my album and delete the ones if I cannot recall the context. Overall I'm more interested in taking picture of people than landscape, cityscape or abstract, local details or patterns. I enjoy observing and recording how different people in different places live their life. So I like doing street photography and take candid photos. As an introvert, this is a bit challenging, but I haven't been getting into unwanted interactions or troubles very often.

Unfortunately, not living in a city means there is not a lot of opportunities to observe people. Not practicing is not very helpful for improving my skills. It has been a bit embarrassing to look at some of my older photos that are completely under or over exposed. But the important thing is that many photos are still associated with vivid memory. After I started traveling again after the Covid-19 Pandemic, I started doing street photography during my travels. I found it easier, because when you are apparently a (stupid) tourist, people will be more tolerant of you taking pictures of them.

Lately I also started using my own photos as references for more detailed travel sketches.