I think in my first blog post, it would be fitting to share how I first got into photography and how I am the way I am today. This post is more of a 'not so' underdog tale of me going into a creative field and I will tell you why it was and still is a big deal for me to discover my passion. The first picture I ever took on my own was this lamp at the ceiling of my balcony. The first camera GIVEN to me, YES! Given to me by my good friend George. It was a Nikon D5100. It was an old, bulky DSLR used during his high school days when he was still active as a photographer.
I can't remember the entire detail and when he reads this, (or if he reads this) he would probably fill me in with the other details. Anyway, I was talking to George one day about cameras and photography in general because I was suddenly interested in it. I watched videos and see some cool cameras. I was wondering why wasn't I aware or interested in this sort of thing back then, what an idiot I said to myself. So George and I were going back and forth about this topic and I asked him if he still has his old camera. He told me he replaced some motor drive thingy for the camera ( No idea what it was). So, I met up with him at a cafe just near our homes. He showed me the camera and now, before all this sense of amazement to hold a camera for the first time, it wasn't. I remember vaguely that I held other cameras and played with it too during my high school days. So, after that sense of 'Holy Sh*t, It's so heavy and big' (please refrain from thinking otherwise), I remembered my experiences before but nothing quite felt the same. It almost felt like this was the first time holding and really understanding how it works. George explained to me the triangle in photography which are ISO, aperture and shutter speed as well as other basic things. He kept explaining and I kept trying to comprehend whatever he was trying to teach me Lol! It wasn't easy at the beginning for me to understand haha.
Then, he gave me the camera to play around for awhile and I went home. I didn't play much with it when I got home. Instead, I watched more videos about it EVEN THOUGH there's a camera right there beside me! The next morning, the sequence was like this and I can remember it really clearly. I woke up, brush my teeth, took the camera out, find something 'cool' to take, looks up and snap. Hence, the picture above. It's not really good but it was a start haha. But that first time I adjusted everything on my own and took a photo felt so good. So I kept going and spam the shutter button like crazy! but I kept this one because it was the first. Naturally, I got over excited and did even more. Like this one.
Morning coffee with random things at the corner of the image. I think I was going for a film-like look? The same day I also was introduced to Lightroom to edit all my photos. When someone actually struggled in something completely new, they really struggle and I mean time consuming kind of struggle haha. Although I am a fast learner, photo editing and messing around with the colours were really difficult at first. It was information overload and too many tutorial videos all zapped into my brain. If I recall, these two images took me about an hour or more to just learn some basic on the software and editing it at the same time (I kid you not). As someone who comes from mostly science and mathematics field and have a mindset that is not necessarily a mind of a creator, this shit was hard. At the time, all of this was worth it and loved every minute of it. You know how it is right? If you really like something, you will not get tired of it no matter what. So I kept going and kept improving my ways until 2 plus years later, I am pretty familiar with most of the specifics in photography but so much more to learn. I still do not mess much with Photoshop because I don't normally do heavy editing.
Remember earlier I said this discovery was a huge deal for me? Well, I didn't realize it till my 2nd year in engineering. It was not long ago when I also started photography. So, I had this realization somewhere during that year that I wanted to drop engineering and pursue something else because I felt frustrated and depressed. I was not confident to say photography back then but it had to be something else other than engineering. I was so sure of doing engineering since high school up till college. I even had plans to study in Germany to pursue my degree and also took up german classes. Ich bin Henry und ich komme aus Malaysia which means I am Henry and I come from Malaysia. SEE!!! Commitment! But I got frustrated and ended up wishing that I studied something else. So what did I do? Kept on going because I didn't want to waste my parents' money regardless of my pent up frustration and depression. I graduated in a degree of mechatronics engineering but kept my passion for photography going strong and always hungry to learn more. So my discovery for the love of the field drove me to a conclusion that even though engineering doesn't seem to be a fit for me, at least I know I'm good in something else and can pursue with what I really want. Thus, it was and still is a huge deal for me to make sure I keep the fire going and determination sky high.
That's really it for me. How I came to love this whole thing, how I got my first camera and other equipment in the span of 2 years, how 'this' became one of the huge factor for my discovery of 2 things which are engineering and photography and how I will have to see myself for the future. I graduated and the doors are all open wide. I just have to find the right one and make sure it is the thing I love doing the most. Till next time!
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