Throughout my life, I constantly had something to do. However, I can now focus on activities I want to rather than must do. I always believed that initiatives should have an outcome, serve a purpose, or benefit something or someone else. For the very first time, I do things just because I enjoy it. I am learning to see it differently!

Taking pictures has always been an activity I have enjoyed, and it has a purpose. Now I have discovered photography. Photography is the word I use when I take pictures just for fun. I even participated in an online photo challenge competition (GuruShots) and learned a lot when my photos had to meet specific criteria. I got a lot of ideas and inspiration from other photographers. Photography also became a teacher of many valuable life lessons.

Focus

In one challenge, we had to experiment with the focus. If you focus on one part of a picture, the other parts of the image become out of focus and fade. After the first summer rains, the wildflowers grew lushly around us. It was hard to decide where I wanted to focus because there were so many beautiful parts to choose from. It is sometimes difficult to choose, but we must focus on what we want to stand out and accept the rest is part of the background.

Colour

Many of the challenges are about colour. Colours like orange, red and yellow are great because there are many options with brightly coloured items. The black and brown challenges were challenging because these are not the type of colours I usually put focus on. When the topic was brown, I looked at items like wood, leather, chocolate, and soil. The marks and stains of wood that have arisen over the years created the contrast in colour and made the item and the photo something special.

Shadows

I was surprised by the challenge that focussed on shadows. I usually try to take my pictures during times of the day when the light is soft, there are clouds in the sky, and there are no shadows. The concept of shadows can have a positive or a negative meaning. Shadows play a significant role in photos. It can draw attention to or hide something. It contributes to the drama, emotion, or mystery of the picture.

Places

A photo challenge that excited me was the one about My Country. South Africa is such a diverse country with the most beautiful scenery and people. The hardest part was choosing just one photo! It was lovely to look at the other photographers’ entries. It was like a world tour because everyone could choose only one picture that captured their country.

People

The challenge about generations made me nostalgic. Pictures of our people are precious to us because each one tells something about the person, the moment, or the situation. An exceptional photo makes us see and feel love, emotion, or humour. Excellence lies in the ability to spot those moments and have the skill to capture them. It teaches me to look deeper.

I read the following quote about photography that resonated with me:

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
— Elliott Erwitt

Kind regards

Emsia