by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I’m in a unique position in my life where my obvious eccentricities work in my favor. At the moment, I kind of live in the middle of nowhere and all I have to do with my time — thankfully — is write the four novels I’m working on.
And, yet, I’m not getting any younger. I really need to squeeze out every interesting experience I can possibly squeeze out while I still have air in my lungs. If you don’t understand my logic so far, or you’re hate reading this — please fuck off. Why are you reading my blog to begin with?
Anyway, I find myself harkening back to something that is the OTHER part of my identity besides being a writer: being a photographer.
I have an innate, organic photographic ability and I’ve taken some damn good shots over the years. Some examples are below.
Photo Credit: Shelt Garner
It’s been years since I owned a great digital camera that I wasn’t gifted. (I got a really good camera from someone, but it didn’t quite fit my needs so I haven’t really used it that much, sadly.)
But I remember the pride I felt with a real, honest-to-God camera in my hands — not just a cellphone with a camera in it. That’s the thing that people don’t appreciate — being a photographer is just as much an identity with meta needs as anything else. If you’re a photographer, you need a camera, not just a cellphone with a camera.
Since I don’t live in a city — not even close — and I’m going to have to go out of my way to think up something to take a picture of, I’m leaning into this fact. Instead of rushing into things, why not take my time and save the sizeable chunk of money necessary to buy such a great camera as the Nikon 780? I want a camera that is so good that not only can I grow into it but in a crisis moment it will allow me to take The Picture that is so good it might become historic or something. I have such a picture in me, I just need the proper equipment and the proper moment in time.
Things could still go wrong. And if something happens, I’m very open to buying a camera that’s not such a budget buster. But there are some very specific conditions that allow me to pursue this dream.
Once I get everything I need with the camera, I’m going to start looking for public events to take pictures of so I can practice my abilities. And I’m probably going to have to teach myself some of the actual nuts-and-bolts of photography.
As it stands, I just have an organic instinct as to how to take a great picture.
