Expanding to photography

I’ve been becoming more fascinated with photography, the different cameras, lenses, and the story behind photos. My dad always had this Nikon D80 camera and I’ve been studying and learning how to use it and learning about the different lenses for it also. I bought a 18-55mm lens which is good for portraits. I’m

going to buy more eventually depending on what I’ll be shooting. When I first got a iPhone, most of the pictures I’d take would be of the sky and sunsets because of the how pretty the colors are. I never thought about taking photography seriously back then because I didn’t have a professional camera or any equipment. I’d always see my dad using his camera when it was our prom and during the holidays he’d have with him. Being able to capture moments like this is great because you don’t get to see or experience the same thing all the time. I want to perfect how I take photos and become familiar with other styles of photography. The last few days I’ve been on YouTube watching videos of photographers and seeing the lenses they use, their style of editing and the way they use props for the photos. I’ve even been watching a documentary series called Through The Lens, it’s about the evolving aesthetic in photography through the creators, and you learn about the photographer as well. I enjoy watching this because there’s different styles that each person does and the equipment they use varies with what they’re shooting. It’s nice to learn about different people around the world and seeing what got them started. A friend of mine showed me the different settings and told me more about the Nikon camera, I didn’t know much about it and I tried to teach myself but using the manual only helped so much. Luckily, she has a Nikon also so it was easier for me to learn about it. I’ve been using Lightroom for editing pictures and I play around with the different tools to see how I want to edit, this photo for example, I changed the color saturation, did a dual tone color change and adjusted the lighting. I’m still learning how to use it but so far I like it. What I like about this is I can change anything in this photo to what I want it to be, the sky is a light purple which I think looks beautiful. Making the red flowers pop and the coins in the well really make the photo change. What I want to take from photography is to share what I find different and beautiful. My favorite photographers would have to be Jessica Kobeissi, Brandon Woelfoel, Brooily and Samuel Elkins. Each of them have their own ways and styles to photographing and I like how their photos tell a story. Their work is amazing, I scroll down their feeds admiring the photos they take. I know that I want my style to portrait, city/urban and landscape. Practice makes perfect, and I want to become a great photographer who stands out. I’m not sure where this will take me, but I’m here for the ride and I’m looking forward to starting something I know I’ll love.