Hobby-for-Hire: Turning Photography into More Than a Passion
by Jimmy Gardner on 11/30/2010
Photography is not just my hobby, it is my passion. I see life in terms of picture compositions. As I walk down the street, I see angles of buildings against the sky, bikes laying against a building a certain way, or street art painted in the alleys around the city. I try to have a camera with me all the time.
These days, it seems that every one is a photographer, and I do not mean that as a bad thing. With the advent of inexpensive digital SLR cameras, it has allowed more people to be able to express their creativity through quality cameras; they’re getting borderline professional results that would have seemed impossible just a short time ago. My exploration started similarly; my first camera was a Canon Rebel that I bought from Costco about nine years ago, and I have been taking lots of pics ever since.
Since then, I became involved in the local DC startup community, particularly when I launched a self-funded startup called MyDropBin. In doing so, I got to know the local crowd and started to go to the events in the area like TechCocktail, Barcamp, and so on. I always had my camera with me and loved to get candid shots of the folks in attendance. I would post them online shortly after and people began to take a look at the shots — I received some great feedback, which only further fueled the passion.
So this very organic approach of just practicing my photography in a niche market like the DC start-up scene — and then sharing it for free with others — blossomed into my receiving paid photography opportunities.
Though, interestingly, I have never been concerned about making money from it. Fortunately, my day job in technology allows me to travel and continue pursuing my passion without having to worry about income; rather, it enables me to enjoy and explore photography.
