Fun in the Process
One of the things that I hear my Mother say a lot is that she has more fun in the process of the art she does than in seeing the finished product. I used to not understand that. I am mostly a results kind of guy. Technical mind. For my work most of my joy comes from seeing things function the way I designed them to, such as the network QoS (quality of service) doing it’s job by letting a video conference travel the WAN (wide area network) successfully. I take great pride in the results of my actions in that regard.
It’s all different when it comes to other things, things that I am not doing for any other reason but for the joy of doing it. Things that have nothing at all to do with my line of work. I don’t have many of those things, but one thing I’ve discovered I like a lot is photography.
Today I went to the Neptune Festival at the Virginia Beach oceanfront to check out The Culinary Institute of Virginia’s booth and to take some pictures with my new camera. I found myself on the beach near some teenagers feeding seagulls. I was probably ten feet away from the feeders, all of us surrounded by these white vultures that tourists love so much. I fell completely into a zone - pointing the camera to the sky and holding down the shutter button firing off shot after shot (three shots a second is awesome). Trying to stay from directly under a seagull five feet above my head (line of fire) wasn’t so much fun, but it was part of the whole experience. Here’s one of my favorite from that bunch:
Hey, watch it buddy!
There’s also something about this next one, the faded paint on the restaurant on the beach with the cloudless blue sky. At first I was disappointed with it because of how bad the building looks, but after enlarging it remembered that it’s the building, not the photo. It almost looks like an old postcard to me. I want to go back there in the winter when I know that nobody is on the beach.
I can say that I’m about as happy with the results today as I was with the process. Some more of my pics were put in a Flickr photoset here. Hopefully the more I learn about these cameras and photography the more fun is to be had in the process.
Dude, the pics look great. I think your camera is really nice and your eye for framing a shot is quite good. I am glad you have found a hobby you really seem to enjoy! Keep on posting. It makes life way interesting. Don’t forget to set your GPS settings on the pics so everyone knows where you are taking them.
I can’t wait to see how you develop as an artist! Way to go! The pics look great, and the more you do, the more you’ll want to do… and it goes on and on. It really IS about the journey!
ok so your smart and a tad bit talented. One day you’ll like playing with plants and digging in the dirt. Great pictures by the way. Have fun with your new hobby.
I’ve actually had this conversation with your mom. I think I spent a good portion of my life as a musician not realizing that the process was the only reason I was in it. I never paid any attention to the results until I went to college and thats when things started to get really tough. The results are worth it if you enjoy the process and they are never satisfying when you do not enjoy the process.
Have to say, some part of me wants to point and laugh at Mr. Left Brain and say “ha, ha! you’re an artist!”
Hey, I really wanted to go but you brought it to me, thanks!
The pictures are just beautiful. Keep up the good work.
BEEEAAAAYOU TIFUL photos! I used to love photography class at Morehead. Still think about doing some, along with developing, but my mind goes to more pen & ink and watercolors right now. I am finally getting a STUDIO! You will find you look at all things in a different way, when you have a camera in your hand……even the smallest, non-descript thing can come alive and is, in that mili-second, frozen for posterity. GOOD WORK! Love you! MISS YOU!