Seriously Fun

What does it mean to be serious?

Black&White and not looking at the camera

When people ask if I'm a photographer, I give my little spiel about being "more of a hobbyist, but trying to get more serious".  I've given a lot of thought about what it means to be "serious" about something like photography, and I've realized that for the longest time, I was terrified of coming across as taking myself too seriously.  What I mean is that I have the fortune (and perhaps misfortune) of having some really talented friends (link opens to the amazing Daryl Tiong).  And when you're surrounded by people who you know are a lot better than you, you can get a little shy.  I think for the average person, looking at work that is a lot better than your own can only be inspiring to a certain point, and then past that point, it just becomes demotivating.  You start to think, "oh my god, I could never do that".  So I hesitated when it came to publishing an album and making a watermark and starting a blog and just everything.  I basically talked myself down to believe I'm "nothing more than a hobbyist" and that's all I'll ever be.

Sincere thanks goes out once more to my dear friends who believed in me more than I believed in myself.
The guy in the b&w photo above had said something that stuck with me: you need to take yourself seriously to show others you are to be taken seriously (or something along those lines).  It sounds a bit like "how can anyone love you if you don't love yourself" cliche but the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with John's words.  Taking yourself seriously can be positive; it can mean you are dedicated to your craft and striving to improve.  It means you want to learn new things but also be recognized for your achievements.

However, I try to keep my original mentality of not being too serious, and more often than not, it's reflected in my photos.  In the b&w photo above, we're actually just sitting in a tea shop and he's looking at his phone (black and white just makes everything look so serious).

Sometimes we're actually just goofing around:

On top of the jungle gym at the park

But sometimes it's more of a "behind the scenes" type action:

So serious

Not so serious

Or maybe the magic of cropping:

Zoomed in

Zoomed out

Or just more goofing around:

Sunset

Rasengan

Special thanks to John for allowing me to post these pictures of him, especially the one with the purse :)