THE JOY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
If you have a passion in your life, I hope it brings you joy, says REED MILLER
Though I have had many interests or passions in my life – and still do – the passion of photography takes me to more places, creates more friendships and forces me to look for and see more beauty than any other of my interests.
I have enjoyed photography for years (okay, decades), but the digital age has made it so much more enjoyable and fulfilling. The digital age of photography allows me to see results instantly and control almost the entire photography process from start to finish.
For me, there is just something magical about looking for and capturing a moment in time and calling it your own. It’s something to do with having the ability to look back on that moment or share it whenever or with whomever you desire. I don’t want to treat the ‘looking for’ part too lightly. It is this part that forces me to see the world in its very best light… both literally and figuratively speaking.
It is the ‘looking for’ that gets me out of bed earlier than I normally would or stay out in the middle of the night looking for the perfect milky way, northern lights or a meteor shower now playing at a night sky near you. Anything that expands your understanding of the world has to be a good thing.
It doesn’t matter if your interests are landscape and wildlife (my top choices), or any of the many fascinating genres that turn your crank. It is all wonderful, thoughtprovoking and timeless, and hopefully lets you walk into that image for the briefest of moments.
When I have my camera (or cameras) with me, I look for the beautiful and the interesting. Sometimes, I find it, capture it and preserve it.
I have very few limitations or regulations in this quest. If
I’m lucky enough, other people get to view, and perhaps even appreciate, that slice of time… my slice of time. All that really matters is that I personally appreciate my images and that I can see my progression.
This desire, this drive, is what forces me out in the snow and cold. It is what gets me excited about the possibility of seeing a large white-tailed buck with large snowflakes falling around him, or the perfect clump of aspens in the fog. My images may never match what I see in my mind’s eye, but hopefully, I can creep just a little bit closer to that goal every day. That, my friends, brings me so much joy.