Photography is good for me

On Sunday, I bought a film camera at the flea market. From some cursory research, it wasn’t the best price for the particular model, and when I asked the seller what his return policy was, the answer was basically “trust me, you won’t need to return it.”

As I debated in my head if I should do more research and consider other options, a thought came to me. A better option might exist, but who knows how long it’d take for me to start shooting if I looked for it? On the other hand, since I was at the market with a camera right in front of me, I had the chance to start exploring photography that very day.

And so I bought it, and indeed I spent the rest of the day taking pictures with it.

That day, I used up all 36 exposures of my first roll of film (going to the beach helped), and the next day I took the film to the lab.

Waiting for the scans to come back was like waiting for Christmas morning as a kid. Making the trip to the lab, the anticipation of getting the scans back, and the joy of finally seeing the pictures I took made film photography feel so much more rewarding than any kind of photography I’d done before. I had felt uncertain about going with a film camera, thinking that not being able to see my work immediately would be a disadvantage. But the slowness of film ended up being something I found beautiful.

As I write this, I realize it had been a while since I did something that had a delay in payoff like this. These days, I tend to keep busy by going out to bars and trying new restaurants. (And I waste a lot of time scrolling.) I’m realizing now that it had been a while since I had invested significant time and energy into my hobbies.

I used to be consistent with going to the gym, but not anymore; I never seem to feel motivated to open any of the books sitting on my shelf; I haven’t baked something in ages. And so I haven’t felt that feeling of satisfaction that comes with putting time into something for a while.

So, getting into photography is a joyful return to that which takes time. And it makes me happy in other ways too.

Somehow, having a camera in my hands makes me a more social person. Now, I was by no means an introverted person before this. But holding a camera gives me a reason to be in a space and an excuse to talk to people. At the beach, I saw a young man fishing. Taking pictures of the ocean gave me an excuse to stand next to him as he fished, and we struck up a conversation. It’s sort of like how holding a drink in your hand at a party makes it easier to approach people.

And photography got me to get my steps in. Today, taking photos in Brooklyn and Central Park, I totaled 28,104 steps, much higher than my average (which I will not disclose). And I discovered the Conservatory Garden, which was absolutely beautiful.

I bought a bunch of film today, so I hope to continue to get out there, find lovely places, talk to people, and take cool pictures. Stay tuned for more photography blog posts in the future!

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Joe, Sarah, and Charlene for reviewing the first version of this post!