Monday, January 25, 2010

First Post - Photography

Alright, I guess I’ll talk about myself for the first blog entry. My name is Sebastian and I’m a 20 year old freshmen. I plan on majoring in Computer Science, but my true passion is photography. I haven’t done much professionally, but I really enjoy it. I worked as a photographer for the National Park Service in Washington D.C. Other than that, I have done one wedding. If you’re interested in photography at all, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT do a wedding. It was an absolutely miserable experience. I shoot with a Nikon D300 for the most part, but my favorite camera is a thirty year old Nikomat and my favorite lens is a thirty year old 50mm 1.4. Out of all the shots I’ve taken, my favorite so far is from the 4th of July in Washington D.C. With my position at the National Park Service, I was able to get the best spot available at the top of the Netherlands Carillon.

http://rocker504.deviantart.com/art/4th-of-July-in-DC-137732276

I plan on having it printed, but unfortunately I shot it at a lower resolution than preferable for a poster sized print. If you like the shot, feel free to purchase a print. I’m very proud of that shot.
The real turning point in my photography was a little over a year ago. I decided to take a darkroom class and discovered my passion for it. This probably makes me sound like a hipster, but I find simple black and white photography to be generally more interesting. The most amazing part of this class was towards the end of the course. We went to a DC United game and were given full access as photographers. This gave us the opportunity to experience the job of a professional photographer and meet experienced sports photographers. It seemed like a very intense and competitive job, but was more fun than I could ever have as a computer scientist. Unfortunately all the photographers I’ve talked to have told me explicitly to stay with computer science since making a living as a photographer is extremely difficult. So for now I’m staying on the path to get a degree in Computer Science while dreaming of doing what I enjoy. Photography.

2 comments:

  1. nice picture dude. pretty awesome. i wish i did photography, but i dont have the money or the time to do it, which is probably because i blow all my money on DJing.

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  2. Yeah, Beautiful Picture. I suspect Mike Adkins is kind of in the same place with his DJ-ing -- it's a real passion, but he doesn't believe he can make a living off of it.

    My older brother just graduate from the Chicago Art Institute with a degree in photography...and is now working a service job in a hospital. So, yeah, those old heads are probably right. However, remember (says the person pursuing a degree in Poetry) that some *do* make it, and what it really takes is a drive and a "chip on your shoulder" (plus luck and talent) to make it. It *is* possible.

    Hope you post more of your pictures throughout the semester!

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