11 years ago, I bought my first camera, Canon 60D. I brought my camera out in the first few months almost every day. Whenever possible, I picked my camera and shot anything I wanted.
My first two photography projects were shooting graduation photos of mine and my friend. We had a great time playing with the camera. At that time, we didn’t know much about photography knowledge. DSLR had better specs than mobile phones, so we relied on it solely.
The more I know, the more I realise I don’t know. After the graduation photo projects, I understood the photos I shot were slightly better than those taken by mobile phones. Even worse, many were out of focus or had poor exposure. To improve my photography, I had to shoot as many as possible. Therefore, I began hiking at weekends. My personal record was going for a hike 36 times in 2017.
COVID has changed the lifestyles of people, including mine. In the past 3 years, I didn’t have a good experience in the countryside. Some people wore masks throughout their journey. Some people didn’t wear masks, but when they saw me, they would cover their noses and mouths with a piece of tissue paper. Smiles, greetings and interactions were gone. Such a suffocating atmosphere eventually made me drop hiking as my regular activity. Without hiking, I seldom brought my camera out.
Over a year ago, one of my friends who moved to London created her Instagram, uploading photos she took in the UK. The theme of her Instagram album is nature and cities in the UK. People in Hong Kong often say the UK is not a place for travelling but for studying aboard. But when I watched the photos taken by my friend, I found those photos so attractive that I would think of visiting the UK.
Last month, I watched a YouTube video made by a professional photographer talking about colour grading. This is a post-production process for photos by altering the parameters like colour and saturation. Instead of reflecting the actual colour, the colour grading process may remove some colours from the photos. This is a complex yet fun topic that I have never been studying since the beginning of my photography journey.
Can I shoot photos that can inspire someone, just as I am inspired by those shot by my friend? Can I master colour grading by practising more? These lead to my new learning project – A Year in Hong Kong. In this project, I want to rekindle my photography passion by accomplishing the above 2 challenges.
Recent highlights
As it is still in the beginning stage, I have no idea how to achieve it. But keeping the cameras inside an electronic moisture-proof box doesn’t bring any value. I’ll take my camera out more frequently and shoot anything I want to.