What Photography Taught Me About Love
On October 20, 2008, I received an e-mail about my enrollment agreement as well as a lovely welcome from the New York Institute of Photography. I was excited to start learning photography, which was my passion at the time. I had so many ideas in my head about what I could do and how I could execute different photography ideas.
I wanted to be able to influence others and spark insightfulness with my photography. I felt misunderstood when all I wanted to do was take photos, but my family didn’t understand my passion in it. I was an annoyance to them because I enjoyed using them as subjects so often.
I got really frustrated when certain venues and places didn’t allow photography or limited it. I would feel defeated and torn apart when all I wanted to do was capture a great image, but so many rules were in place to limit what I could do. I would get depressed, upset and angry about how limiting it was to be controlled. I didn’t feel that I could be the artist that I wanted.
I drove out to random areas where I lived. I discovered the places that weren’t visited frequently. I worked on capturing emotion in the moments as it was happening as well as capturing what I saw in the moment as I was seeing it. This includes nature, buildings, places, pets, events and portraits. I learned to be disconnected from the end result of what was happening. I learned to be in the present moment.
I continued to master technical aspects of my camera. I devoted myself to learning and completing each photography lesson. I learned that there are millions of different angles. I looked to achieving simplicity in each photo. I became more aware. I trained my eyes to see and be focused mentally. I became a master at creating moments and capturing them.
Dr. Seuss, otherwise known as Theodore Geisel, is known for one quote that says, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” I found myself wanting to go back in time and experience some of the emotions that I felt when I devoted myself to photography and capturing experiences through visuals. The same is true with love. When I’ve wanted to feel a certain way again, I looked to my past sometimes to find what I missed. I kept having to remind myself that there are always new experiences, new places and new times to be had even if we don’t see it right now.
I will always have a love of visuals and photography. It helped me to really analyze what I see. It also taught me that everything is not always as it seems. Sometimes I could create an amazing photo, but the emotions linked to it were not strong. Sometimes I could have a photo that didn’t come out so well, but the candidness and incompleteness draws me to it in curiosity.
In one photo shoot, I could have several amazing photos, but also several horrible ones. In a couple of my relationships, I have had several great moments, but also several horrible ones as well. I learned that photography is a process and so is love. It takes patience for both to achieve amazing results.
