Getting excited about an old hobby of mine

I'm paying more attention to an old love of mine these days: photography! I've got a great digital camera which I've had for about a year now, and while the learning curve to use it has been steep, I'm taking some wonderful pictures with it. It is such a satisfying hobby for me.

I love the digital crispness of the pictures, browsing through the pictures on my computer, sharing them on the tv after a family event, printing the ones I love, and sharing them via email with friends and family.

Framing the world through a viewfinder (I still prefer the viewfinder to the LCD screen) is a way for me to focus intensely and passionately on things, people, places and experiences that bring me joy. It is such a visual pleasure, I love the creative aspect of framing, and choosing what to shoot, how and where. And I've always loved the feel of the camera in my hands, ever since I got my first little Kodak for Christmas when I was about eight.

I'm sure my love of photography began with my father and the pictures he was famous in our family for taking when I was a little girl. He photographed everyone in the family, developed his photographs in a darkroom in our basement, and hand colored some of the enlargements he made very artistically. I vividly recall the way the darkroom glowed dimly with the red lightbulb overhead, the smell of the chemicals in their trays, and the magic of the images appearing on the paper. Those were very special moments I had with my dad.

I've got some of Dad's wonderful photos of myself as a baby, my brothers, my mom, and other family members in my home. Looking at them makes me feel warm and cozy and very happy and connected.

So, there is that whole other aspect of photography for me: the sense of being connected to the world and people around me in a positive and loving way through the camera lens. I am, in a way, in love with what I photograph, whether it is a flower, an ocean, or a person.... and it most definitely raises my own JOY quotient!

Used to be, years ago, that I almost never went anywhere without my trusty manual Minolta SRT 102 35mm camera hanging off my left shoulder. I joked that a trip I took out West, to Utah and Idaho when my daughter was five years old, was a trip I experienced "through the lens of my camera"--- it was true, and I loved every minute of it and have fabulous photographs to show for it!

I loved that camera, and grieved when it failed and wasn't fixable. Of course it failed on a lifetime trip to Sicily and England! But that's another story...which taught me a lot about letting go! Then I went for several years without taking many pictures, but these days I'm finding that there are more and more moments when I wish I had my camera with me, so I'll be carrying it around a lot more.

All of the photos on the Inspiration page of this site are mine and I'm in the process of adding more.

In the very near future, my photographs will be available to purchase on the Every Day Joy site. You'll be able to order them with or without inspirational quotes, and framed or unframed, in various sizes.

I'm very excited about expanding my work in this direction and sharing it with you.

And I'll let you know as soon as they become available.

So what's your hobby? How does it connect you to life? And is it a source of Every Day Joy for you?

Do what you love! That's what I'm doing!

Warmly,

Jan
The Every Day Joy Coach
www.EveryDayJoy.com