This guest post was written by amateur travel photographer Karen Filo.  See more of her work and read her blog here: http://www.k-tography.com.au/blogs

 

I tell anyone who will listen that I consider myself an enthusiastic amateur photographer. I don’t aspire to becoming a professional photographer in any way shape or form – it’s just not for me. However, what I do aspire to is taking great travel and holiday photos to look back on.

How it all started…

This story starts many years ago when we bought a DSLR camera so that we could take better holiday photos! We lugged that thing around, snapped and snapped and snapped, but were generally disappointed in what we got. So, human nature being what human nature is, we did what most people would do when the technology failed us – we put it in the cupboard and forgot about it. What a waste of good money!

In 2010, I stumbled across the camera while looking for something else. I had completely forgotten we had it, and wondered why we weren’t using it … then I remembered!

 

My ‘aha!’ moment

While I was thinking about it all and wondering what to do about it, I had a little ‘light bulb’ moment: the camera hadn’t let us down – we’d let the camera down! I realized we had two choices: learn how to use it properly, or sell it and move on … lesson learned.

The fact that you’re reading this article tells you which option I chose! And I have never looked back. I absolutely loved learning, not only what the camera was capable of, by what I was capable of, particularly as I’m a left-brainer (the side connected with logic, language, reasoning, numbers)! Creativity has never come naturally to me. I still struggle with understanding many photography concepts and settings, but each year I know a little more than I did the previous year, and have a few more photos to prove it. Some of them even grace the walls of our house or, more recently, have been given as gifts.

 

Getting out there

I found I had colleagues, friends and family who were also interested in photography. Great, I thought, we can do things together. People who know me well are quite shocked when I tell them that I’m quite introverted and shy around strangers. I don’t like doing things by myself, particularly where it’s off the beaten track or away from the general population and I’m carrying expensive gear, so I tried to organize outings with my fellow enthusiasts.

I also love to browse the internet, read magazine articles, watch documentaries etc about photography. One message that I kept hearing loud and clear was ‘join a local photography club or interest group.’ Long story short, the general response was ‘you join, and let me know what it’s like!’ Needless to say, I didn’t join a group or club.

 

Getting educated

In 2011, I did take the plunge and enrolled in a couple of courses. The first one was ‘Understanding your Camera’. The teacher was fantastic and in the first class told us ‘get your camera off auto, and stay off auto!’

The second course was ‘How to take great photos’. On the first night, we were asked to watch the ‘revolving ballerina’, then the teacher went around the class asking whether we saw it spinning clockwise, or anti-clockwise. Only one other girl and I saw it going anti-clockwise, and he called us ‘accountants!’ Although a little insulting, it was said in jest.

This course was much more challenging as we had ‘homework’. In the beginning it was a few photos a week (which I could manage in and around the home), until near the end it was about 16! I was working almost full time, had home and family commitments, limited time to get out and about for photography, and found the final few weeks extremely challenging. But I did it – the home and family suffered a bit, but I did it!

 

Getting out of your comfort zone

The second course really took me out of my comfort zone, especially when I realized that I’d have to actually leave home to find photographic opportunities to fulfill the homework brief each week. It also meant talking to or guiding people, asking for someone to be a model, and all manner of things I found difficult.

Then in 2013 I turned 50 and decided I needed to challenge my insecurities and comfort zones because they were adversely impacting on what I did and experienced in life generally.

In early 2014, I joined a social photography group. My first outing was a little hit and miss. I’d arrived a little late and the group had already moved on to a different area. I enjoyed the outing, observed what some others did, got some interesting photos, and even managed to talk to some total strangers.

Shortly afterwards, they organised a ‘panning’ workshop. This was something I definitely wanted to understand and get a handle on, so I convinced my niece to come with me. We found the group, paid our $1, and were advised ‘set your shutter speed to 1/20^th and hope for the best’.

We had some fun, but we really didn’t understand what we were doing or how to do it, and the guy who’d organised it was nowhere to be seen. I got home that day, reviewed the photos and deleted every single one as I had nothing worth keeping or sharing. I was quite deflated and wondered why I was pursuing photography.

 

Staying inspired

Finding fellow photographers

I have been a subscriber on a particular photography website for many years and learnt much of what I know from inspiring articles, photographs and photographers in that community. It was originally my ‘go to’ place for inspiration or when I was trying to learn or understand something new or that I’d been having trouble with. These days, there’s a plethora of information and websites out there to help us more ‘challenged’ enthusiasts! Hacking Photography is now among them.

One photographer whose style caught my interest early on is Texas-based James Brandon (www.jamesb.com). I read his articles, bought an ebook, checked out his website and started following him on Facebook. His style and methodology just suited me.

 

Finding workshops

Sometime in 2014 I saw a post about a workshop he and fellow photographer, Mike Mezeul II (http://www.mikemezphotography.com/), were hosting in Hawaii the following February. I really didn’t take much notice of it, except to think ‘I’ll do something like that one day!’

Around November that year, a post about spaces still being available in the Hawaii workshop popped up in my feed. I read it, moved on, went back, re-read it, thought about it, umm-d and ahh-d, looked at the details, moved on again, but the seed of thought was planted. My first reaction was to try and talk someone into coming with me. No luck. My second reaction was ‘Why am I waiting for others?’, so I sent the link to hubby suggesting it might make a great birthday or Xmas pressie.

So my place in the workshop was secured, I booked flights and accommodation, and of course had to buy some new gear! All up, it cost a lot more than I originally anticipated, however, not only did I meet two entertaining and extremely talented photographers, but also a group of like-minded enthusiasts, and got to shoot in some absolutely amazing locations. Most importantly though, I’d stepped out of my biggest comfort zone!

My problem then was that I was hooked! ‘This is the way to go,’ I thought! You get to travel to amazing places in a safe, group environment, the itinerary’s organized, there are professional photographers to help and guide you, and you are with people who share your passion and interest in photography.

However, I did decide that the next one needed to be local so as not to break the bank. In August 2015, I joined an Australian photography group (One Of A Kind Photography Adventures), and travelled to Western Australia for a 4 day trip. One of my images from that trip was even a finalist in their monthly competition for November!

 

Looking forward

I can’t wait to do it all again in 2016! The first one’s booked – doing the slot canyons in Arizona with James and Phil from the Hawaii trip. This has been top of my wish list since I started following James! One of these photos will be going up on the wall!

Oh, and now I see the ballerina turning both ways!! In fact, as I was preparing this article, I decided to have another look and she was turning, turning, turning and I couldn’t get her to turn the other way, no matter what I did. Then I looked at the article and she was turning clockwise – I was using the creative side of my brain!