Why I Shoot
February 26, 2025
I bought my first digital camera in 2004. I can’t remember for how much, or how many megapixels it had (probably 3mp?) I think it was a Canon Powershot. I just knew that in my group of friends, I was the keeper of records. I would take all of the photos and keep all the memories safe. This continued well into the summer of my senior year of high school, and then fizzled out entirely once my friend group broke up and we all went our separate ways.
Had kids, had jobs. Had no time to do photography and kind of forgot about it. I regret taking less photos of my kids during this time, but the passion just wasn’t there. I ended up picking up a Canon t3i, and like most people, used it on auto 100% of the time. This meant very oversaturated shots always at a higher f stop and no semblance of feeling whatsoever. Dull, boring, no passion. My cell phones at the time, around 2015-19 took better photos and that piqued my interest in photography again. Not enough to pick up the Canon, but enough to submit a couple of my photos to the local news. I got featured once on the local news with my picture of the Portland skyline at sunset. It was a super oversaturated photo. Clarity at max levels. More amateur mistakes if I were to look back now, but that was kind of the fad of that era.
More years went by, the itch faded again. Nothing memorable to take photos off, nothing super interesting for me. In 2019, right before the pandemic, I had a lot of time on my hands. I picked up my t3i and started shooting again and really dove into the settings of what makes a good photo. I fell back in love. The pandemic hit in 2020, everyone was “stuck” at home. When in Rome…take pics! I bought a DJI drone and that just kept the ball rolling. In 2019 I started to figure out my look, what I liked, what I didn’t. In 2020 I bought my first lens and my first “pro” camera, a Canon SL2 (ok, not actually pro, but more pro than a t3i). In 2021 I had my first clients and at that point, had completely found my “look.” Gritty, filmic, dark, moody. In 2022 I bought my first Sony after seeing a ton of photos online that matched my look and feel more with that platform. I had always shot Canon but it was usually really soft and red, where Sony was darker, bluer, and sharper by far. I got married in 2023 and after looking through my wedding photos I felt I needed a film camera, so I got myself a Canon AE-1 and a few rolls of film. That’s a whole thing…it’s super fun. You really get into the mechanics of it. It’s cheap enough for the rolls of film, cheap enough to develop, and those cameras go for under 100 bucks in good shape on eBay all day.
It’s 2025, I’ve never been more locked in. I got into the bougie camera thing. Bought a Hasselblad, sold a Hasselblad. Almost bought a Leica, but then decided I liked Sony more for now. My two cam setup is here to stay for a bit, but so is the passion. I shoot because memories are important to me. Someone has to be visual stenographer of life, love, family, nature, pets, whatever. I shoot because it’s an artform and probably the most creative thing I do. I don’t do it for the money, I do it because it’s one of the very few things I got pretty good at and can enjoy without it being overwhelming. I’ll take practice this and make it better, and better, and better.
Now my daughter has her own Canon, a t6i, much nicer than what I had. I’m excited to share this gift with her and anyone else who wants to learn. I’ve made a few photographer friends over the years, and I think they would all say the same thing.