I was driving to a photo spot very early one morning when a cowgirl stopped all the traffic for about 15 minutes while they moved this herd of horses to a higher pasture. It was such a joy to watch them!
1) It can be done cheaply. Chances are very good you already have a camera on your phone, and some of them are surprisingly good. Why not put them to their full use since it will cost almost nothing? Or, if you want to take it a step further, all you need to do is pick up a few very cheap apps and a few cheap books on how to take better pictures that will greatly improve the photos you take. You can even buy specialty lenses that will open up a whole new world to you like macro (flowers and bugs) photography or bird/wildlife photography.
There is a good chance if you will do that, you’ll be so pleased with the results that you want to move up to the next level. Fortunately, for just a few hundred dollars you can move up to a surprisingly good point-and-shoot camera that will take stunningly good pictures. I use a Nikon AW110 that takes wonderful pictures and is waterproof so it can go in the pool. I highly recommend it.
If you fall in love with it like I did, for $500 or less you can get a Digital SLR that has unlimited possibilities of what you can do with it. Then the magic of photography can start to truly come alive.
I took this shot just 30 feet from our camp at the Tetons. We were in heaven!
Becoming a vandweller is all about recreating your life into exactly what you want it to be. Now more than ever you are going to want photographs to record your new life and keep it fresh with you for the rest of your life. I’ve often found gaps in my life where I had no pictures and wished I had taken some, I’ve never wished I had taken less!
3) Anyone can do it and learn to do it well. Of all art forms, I think photography is the easiest for the average person to pick-up as a beginner and excel at. Today, even the cheap digital cameras are so good you will almost certainly get photos you like on your first memory card and that’s not true of most art forms. But, if you are willing to go on and devote yourself to learning and practicing your new art, the sky is the limit to what you can do. You can begin very small with the typical vacation snapshots and grow into a true artist.
When I first got into nature photography many years ago I had one goal, to be able to take pictures that grabbed the viewer and made him say “Wow!” I gotta be honest with you and say I took lots of poor to mediocre pictures before I got that first one. But I kept at it and now I can do it on a regular basis. If I can do it, I promise, you can too! I’m going to do a blog post on this subject very soon.
4) There is a learning curve, but that is all the more reason to do it. Making the leap from snapshots to art is not hard and does not depend on your camera. Even a cheap camera can take “WOW” photos if you will just learn a few basic artistic rules and learn a little but about the mechanics of photography. But to be fair, the further you go into it, the steeper the learning curve and the harder you have to work to learn it all.
But as we get older, it becomes more and more important to exercise our brains just like we would our body. Some people do puzzles to work their brain, but that just seems so boring and pointless to me. How much better is it to learn something that will appeal to and improve your whole person? I promise that the Art of Photography will improve your life in many ways and you won’t get bored with it.
5) It is so multi-faceted, you can never outgrow it or get bored with it. I feel like I’ve gained a fair mastery of landscape photography. Normally that would lead me to boredom and a drifting away from a hobby, but not in this case. First, because I know I have a lot of room left for improvement and many more beautiful pictures to take in many new places. Instead of drifting away, it just makes me want to go those beautiful places all the more! But just as important, there are so many types of nature photography that I know almost nothing about but really want to explore.
For example, I’m very poor at editing my photos, in fact I’ve been using a free program called Picassa to edit them and it is very simple and easy, but also very limited and weak. Now that I can finally consistently take decent photos I want to make them look the best they can, so just recently I bought a powerful program called Lightroom to do my editing with. That creates a whole new challenge for the hobby and a large new learning curve. But that’s good! My old brain needs it!
But there are many other areas of photography I’m also going to start learning for the first time such as:
- Macro (flowers and bugs)
- Wildlife
- Birds
- Lightning
- Stars and night-time.
You can’t outgrow and get bored with photography!
6) It makes you fully alive because, more than almost any hobby, it fully involves your whole person, inside and out. In my whole life, there has been nothing that I have enjoyed as much as a photo session in a beautiful place, often in difficult circumstances; it’s just me, the camera and stunning beauty. Those are the moments I am most fully alive because:
- It elevates your spirit by putting you in nature. If you want to take pictures of beautiful things, nature is the best place to do that and anything that puts you into contact with nature is very, very good for you!!
- It works your body and gives you exercise. Every so often you can step out of your car and get a great photo, but much more often you are going to have to hike and work for those “wow” shots all while carrying a bunch of gear. But, it’ll all be worth it!
- It inspires your creativity and artistic side. If you’re like most people your natural childhood joy in art and creativity has been so crushed out of you that you think it’s gone. it’s not. It’s part of being human to have a drive toward creativity and art and if we are going to be fully human, we need to get in touch with it again. Photography is one of the best mediums for that because you can get rewards from it right away and it doesn’t require natural skills and talents; it helps if you have them, but you can do just fine if you don’t
- It challenges your mind. There are many technical aspects of photography and to be really good at it you are going to have to learn a lot of new and foreign technical things. But anyone can do it and gaining mastery of it is such a source of joy that that it doesn’t even seem like a sacrifice to me.
Well there you have it, plenty of reasons to consider photography for your Bucket List. And if they don’t convince you, I hope the photos help. But we are all different and we all have different needs and desires so I’m sure many of you will not take up photography as a hobby. But I hope if nothing else this post has inspired you to be open to new ideas!
In the constant pursuit of a great photo, I try to camp as close as I can to the best areas. This is our camp at the Tetons, what a joy it was to us! You can see our vans by the arrow.
Any hobby that takes you to a camp like this is a good one to have!
Photography isn’t a bucket list item for me. It has been a part of my life for decades. It was on the back burner for too many years, but now, with time and traveling, it’s something I do almost daily.
Al, don’t you love it when a plan comes together!
Bob
Gorgeous photos, Bob! Thank you so much for sharing…
One of my personal truths in this lifetime is that I am a lousy photographer. And since Spirit has managed to populate my life with excellent photographers (including my Mom and my ex-husband) I’ve never been too motivated to remedy that situation. But since I now have yearnings to be a blogger, maybe it’s time to move forward… will look forward to future blogs from you on the subject!
Silvianne, it’s very hard to be a blogger without pictures! You may have no choice but finally learn it!
Bob
As to the learning curve, there is a point which, when reached, that photography becomes almost a spiritual experience, where there is a sort of merging between the subject and the self. At that point, the intimacy can be felt even without a camera and beauty springs alive practically everywhere. Once this point is reached, photos pretty much take themselves.
yes! I agree. It can become an transcendent state where you become the subject, and the camera is an extension of your body. Everything flows, and all the technical knowledge just comes out and the camera settings just happen for you to translate your experience to film (or pixels). It is joy and peace and happiness, all in the same experience.
You’ve captured it very well in just a few words Ming.
Bob
I think the magic of it is the blending of both sides of the brain. There few things we do that blend them as well.
Bob
I think the Tetons is a wonderful place to practice photography.Everything is so beautiful it is hard to take a poor photo.
I can’t argue with that kathy!
Bob
Hi Bob! Beautiful pictures! So, are you saying you took these pics with a Nikon AW 110? Cause these pictures are great! I’ll have to look into that camera. Hope it’s okay that I borrowed a couple to put on my wallpaper. Just love to look at beautiful places that I hope someday (soon) to visit.
Linda, nearly all these pictures were taken with my Canon 6D (which is a full-frame DSLR) but I have taken some great pictures with my Nikon A110 as well! Unless I think of it as “art” I take all my pictures with the Nikon.
The main thing a DSLR gives you over a point-and-shoot is control over the camera. That will drastically improve you pictures but there is a steep learning curve to take control. It may or may not be worth it to you.
Bob
Following. Thanks, Bob.
You’re welcome Calvin.
Bob
I love photography and have been fussing with it for 40 years. Some of your Teton photos are unique and that’s quite an accomplishment as that has to be the most photographed mountain range in America.
I’m a retired teacher and my wife will be retiring next June. We have purchased a good used 5th wheel which we are fixing up the way we want with solar panels and such. We don’t yet have the truck to pull it, but that will come. We will sell the house next spring and when Merre retires, we will become permanent nomads, maybe doing some work kamping and lots of boondocking. We are excited. Thanks for the inspiration I get from your posts.
Bill, thanks for your kind words, I do really try hard to come up with a unique perspective. Mostly it’s being willing to go to different places and trying to see the “whole” scene.
You are going to find your photography reaching new heights when you get out here! Just being able to see a sunset every night will revolutionize your life! The biggest difference between the amateur and pro nature photographer is how much time they spend in the field. You are going to be spending a lot of time in the field!
I think you are going to love it!
Bob
thanks for the photos, Bob. Can I put in a request for more dog or van or people in stunning scenery photos? I really love those.
Ming, they aren’t my favorite so I tend to leave them out. But I need to get out of that thinking and include more. Problem is, most of the time I’m alone and not near a road.
I’ll try!
Bob
It’s inspiring to know that you managed to teach yourself how to take such consistently amazing photos, Bob. I feel totally inadequate as a photographer but sheer quantity wins out and I am often surprised to find a decent shot that I can post to my blog or Facebook. I usually blame my little Sony Cybershot when they don’t come out, but I know it’s also me. Bucket list: Learning to take better photos (and getting a better camera).
laVonne, there are a few small things that will greatly improve your pictures. Just for you, I’ll do a post on a few of them.
Bob
Thanks, Bob! Looking forward to it. 🙂
Fantastic photographs as always, Bob! You have a great eye and I think that comes naturally and can’t always be learned.
I had to chuckle a little though when you’re talking about how inexpensive photography is. It can get a lot more expensive once you’re hooked…software programs, a decent computer, hard drives to stash all those photos on, not to mention camera and lens lust end up taking their toll on most photographers.
Getting into photography was the best thing I could’ve done for myself though. I picked up my camera again when I was going through a really tough time and it helped me immensely. Getting out into nature of course is a big part of that…it’s a fantastic stress-reliever.
By the way, have you heard of http://www.creativelive.com? They run free online creative workshops (heavy on photography courses). As a matter of fact, Photo Week is being replayed this week, for free.
Peggy, no doubt, the sky is the limit on how much you can spend once you really get into photography!! But $5000 will get you a true professional camera and lens. That’s a lot but it really is all the camera you would ever need.
However, Both Canon and Nikon make very, very good DSLRs for $500 that will take very nearly as good a picture.
It isn’t the camera, it’s the eye behind the camera!
I do agree, it can be healing; it has been for me also
I’ll have to look into creativelive.com. Thanks for that tip!
Bob
No kidding, Peggy. That’s how I ended up with way too many Nikon SLR’s. Thanks a lot Bob, I’m trying to save up for a vehicle! 🙂
Me too, Ming! But I’ve had the same camera and lenses for years now and I’m content enough. Only thing is, my 100-400mm lens needs repair and I know it won’t be cheap. There’s always something to spend money on when you’re a photographer, it seems.
hey Peggy, I haven’t jumped into spending on the $$ definitive digital cameras yet, as I seem to have inherited a series of random hand me downs that eventually die or get dropped (not by me). When I do, I expect that it will be on a spendy interchangeable lens system. Not an SLR as that is too heavy and I just won’t cart it around with me. I look forward to having a nice camera with good lenses again some day, though.
And thanks for the waterproof camera suggestion, Bob. I have been wanting something I’m not afraid to take out while in the boat, where I’ve been spending time lately.
Wow ! Those are some beautiful shots Bob !!!
Thanks Susan!
Bob