This week, I’m diverging from previous blog posts about projects I have worked on since starting at Double R. Instead, I want to take a moment to reflect on something unexpected that has happened since January. Don’t panic, it’s nothing bad, or scary, or depressing. It’s a good change—the kind of new discovery life likes to hit me over the head with once and awhile.
It can be summed up in one word: photography.
I have always had a passing interest in it. It was one of those hobbies that I told myself I would cultivate down the road, someday. Then, the day before I was set to fly out to D.C., a good family friend presented me with a camera.
A really nice, expensive camera.
“I’ve seen how happy you are taking pictures,” she said while I tried not to faint in shock. “I want you to have the chance to do that more.”
For the first few days in D.C. the camera sat untouched on a shelf in my closet, but one day, enthralled by the city around me, I took it down and began to take pictures.
One day on the National Mall was all it took. I was addicted. A week later Double R Productions had its first video shoot of the new semester and on a whim, I offered to bring my camera.
To my surprise, my pictures impressed the Double R staff, and soon I was bringing my camera to all kinds of events, from business expos to video shoots to site visits. In the few meager months since my first real foray into photography, I’ve learned all sorts of things:
How to adjust light intake on my camera and make pictures brighter.
How to shoot in black and white.
How to shut off my flash settings and shoot with a filter.
To stay out of camera range when accompanying a videographer on a shoot (otherwise it ends up looking like a strange game of Where’s Waldo.).
But the most important thing I’ve learned is how deep my love for photography runs. When I am looking through the lens of a camera the world shifts and changes—fills up with angles and frames and thousands of possibilities.
It feels magical.
I don’t know where I’ll end up going with photography, but it isn’t a someday hobby anymore. That’s for sure.
— Carina Brommet
