Апр
8
“Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” - Hans Christian Andersen
Delivered by Ivan Mulenkov, Winner of the nomination “For Sensitivity and Integrity”,school 1738.
What is living? For many people living is enjoying life. We can enjoy sunshine, nature and freedom of self-expression. We can enjoy sharing with other people. I agree with the ideas of famous American photographer Ansel Adams who hoped that his photos would encourage self-expression in others and stimulate the search for beauty and creative excitement in the great world around us.
It all started when I was turning 13 years old. Some friends of mine advised me to install a well-known app – Instagram – on my mobile phone. It was amazing! I found lots of people with brilliant photography skills and I started to follow their weblogs. Since that time I’ve been slowly getting the shared ideas of what photography is. I’ll never stop admiring this mysterious art of captured emotions and movements.
At present I’m a happy owner of two cameras. I take lots of photos and think that I’m doing some progress. You can see mostly people on my photos. And you know what? I find it easier to choose models for my pictures among people who are not very familiar to me. Usually family and friends are not so good posing in front of my camera because they don’t act naturally. As for strangers, they don’t have in mind who I am and what I’m doing, so they can show their happiness or sadness freely.
Looking through some of my photos, I realize that the people on them will always be the same while in real life they keep changing – growing older, changing their mood or even passing away. That’s the most fascinating thing about photography.
There are certain disadvantages of being obsessed with photography, however. For the last few months I’ve been having difficulty with just watching a beautiful scene or exciting activity. I need to choose a right angle, think about lighting, shadow and other stuff. I can’t be relaxed at such moments. My camera has become a means to perceive the world around me.
In my opinion, to take a really good picture is not just shoot something that you call “deep” or “emotional”, and then apply a cool filter. It’s more about communication with a person who is your model or about your attitude to the situation that you find yourself in. That’s the secret.
I hope that you could get my ideas. I’m just a beginner amateur photographer, but I feel I have learned people better since I took up photography. The art of photography gives me the freedom of self-expression and makes my life complete. Ansel Adams said, “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” I wish my images were good enough to speak to people.
