Capturing light

Science and Art

I’ve always had a creative side since brith they say. I get asked by friends “why are you doing a science?” Yet I don’t know how to answer this question but a small part of me believes that there is no money in the arts and people don’t get amazed as much compared to someone who’s on the science spectrum. Its like choosing between Vincent Van Gogh and Isac Newton. Who would you choose? For me I chose Newton due to the impact he made in science about the 3 laws of motion is much more important compared to Van Gogh’s composition of beauty, colour and emotion. However now that I’ve started to embrace my artistic side through photography. I think otherwise.

Random Shooting

My mom bought me my first DSLR camera for my 17th birthday, other than ocasionally shooting holidays and Christmas photos in Auto mode. Most of the time it belongs in the cupboard, I even thought of not bringing it to University but thank God I did. Living in Bangor has encouraged me to use the camera much more due to the stunning views of my friends… oh yes and the mountains.

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The more I take photos the more confident I get shooting RAW in Manual mode where I have more control of how much light passes though the camera and how it interprets it, giving me more control how I want the photo to look like based on the exposure triangle; Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO.

Thanks to online lessons and YouTube videos, Im able to edit the composition of the photo’s colours in post production via a software Lightroom in which I came to master on my own over time.

Volunteer to practice

Due to the university’s plethora of clubs and societies and my love to photography has started to grow. I took the opportunity to voluntarily take photos of training, matches, competitions and performances of several clubs:

• Rugby Union
• Lacrosse
• American Football
• Powerlifting
• SODA (Musical Theatre Society)

Other than further expanding my knowledge of composing better photos, I have definitley enjoyed every single second of it, even the post editing process which normally takes the most time. Where I then post to my Facebook photography page.

Current earnings

My volunteering efforts taking photos for the clubs and societies was not left unnoticed as I was approached by Academi by offering me to take photos for the 2019 Summer Festival which not only gained me some good earnings but also a Job at Academi for the next academic year (this year 2019-2020) as a photographer. Taking photos one or two nights a week.

Developing traditional film for the first time

I’ve recently got obsessed with film photography, the old fashioned way of taking photos before digital. I got my first film camera in a thrift shop in Birmingham for £30, interestingly enough the camera I got was a brass Leica I from the Third Reich! The director of Leica at the time Ernst Leitz II smuggled hundreds of Jews out of Natzi Germany before the tragic event of the Holocaust, giving this camera great historical value.

I took the camera up to Snowdonia. The camera was fully manual with no indication of how the photos turned out until developed, thanks to my experience in shooting manual on my digital camera it wasn’t much of a leap.

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As part of the committee of Bangor Photographic Society I was able to use the societies’ Darkroom to develop my own photos with the required chemicals. I think is the closest thing that links photography and science.

Opportunities Awaiting

• Take photos for Bangor Surf Team’s Special Event
• Produce a Promo video to raise awareness of Miles Dyslexia Centre in Bangor University.

Reflection

Now that I have embraced my passion in photography I am very keen of integrating this in my future career as a freelance photographer, shooting weddings, festivals and photoshoots. I could do this along side the British Army when when Im not deployed. Speaking of which, I could apply as a photographer in the British Army, sadly they are not recruiting for the possition at the time of witting this blog. However when the opportunity appears, my name will be the first one on the list.

In 10 years time if I ever decide to leave the Army, I could get into Wildlife photography for conservation or even open up my own business photoshop where I can sell new and vintage cameras. I could also provide film developing service to customers as film photography has become trendy again in recent years.

I have suppressed my passion in photography for years thinking that it would render useless for my future career. Embracing my hobby, now I know the great potentials It could give me in my future.