8 years wasted

My Nikon D3100 was THE GIFT for my bachelor's degree (8 years ago — less or more). 8 years later I decided to sell it to earn some cash in order to upgrade my Fujifilm XT100.

But 8 years ago times were different. Mobile phones were crappy at taking photos, much more expensive than today and digital cameras were not even comparable with a reflex.

So my Nikon D3100 was the camera that I’ve used A LOT traveling around the world for many years. This baby has seen a lot of countries: 🇬🇷2🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿2🇮🇪3🇭🇺3🇪🇸2🇵🇹🇩🇪2🇳🇱3🇵🇱🇶🇦🇨🇿🇫🇷🇫🇮🇳🇴🇬🇧2🇺🇸2🇭🇰🇨🇳2🇹🇭🇮🇸🇰🇷🇯🇵5🇲🇦🇸🇬🇲🇾 and I’ve enjoyed it a lot: quite a big camera, but very fast, super light and easy to carry around.

Now, you need to know that during all these years I was not interested in taking pics, and I had this kind of bias: photography was something very very far for me; something unreachable that I wouldn’t be never been able to learn.

So I used my Nikon D3100 just like a smartphone: taking random pics. Quantity instead of quality, fragmented memories mainly for myself so bad that they were even hard to show during family reunions. Of course, sometimes I took good pics, but 90% of the time I took very very crappy photos.
Moreover, I’ve always used the base kit lens when shooting that has of course it is own limits (especially if you don’t have any clue about how light in photography works).

Many years after (August 2019) I decided to buy a 35mm lens for my Nikon (even brand new it has a very cheap price) since I started becoming interested in photography (I launched my IG channel in September 2018).

I used my dear Nikon D3100 with the 35mm lens for a month less or more between Morocco and Singapore and then, this October, I realized it was the right time to switch to another camera.

Why I’m telling you this story? Because I owed a great camera for 8 long years traveling the world, and I didn’t learn ANYTHING about photography even if I had a lot of time and I’ve visited great places to photograph.

And this is my biggest regret: a great camera, many places to visit, great times spent all around the world, and no takeaways for me as a photographer.

But why? Just because. At that time I didn’t find any meaning in photography and my brain didn’t make the right switch to take photography seriously (where for “seriously” I mean inspiration, willingness to experiment, and study). Now photography for me it is not only a form of self-expression but also sensemaking and meaning-making.

So my advice is to find your trigger. Find a reason why you want to become a better photographer. Find the reason why photography can create meaning for yourself and find it quick. You will avoid wasting years as I did in the past. Cameras and equipment only come later.

Sensemaking
How do we make sense of the world so we can act in

- Dave Snowden

Meanings have no edges or compartments. They are not solely rational or emotional, but a mixture. They are not thought or beliefs, but the fabric of both. Meaning is closed from the outside by virtue of its very uniqueness and complexity. The meaning in each of us is a quiet universe that can be probed but not occupied

- Walter J. Feeeman III