Three Words: Shutter

Okay...so I feel like I'm on the groove and in the mood to blog and to write so here's another entry. As you can see, the title of this blog is Shooter's Bounce and below it the words Shutter, Trigger and Finger are written. Three words that connect to my being a shooter. These three words actually represent my major hobbies being photography, airsoft and basketball, respectively. Not one being on top of the other. I love these hobbies almost equally.

This was supposed to be a single entry entitled just “Three Words” but I forgot to pull the handbrake when I was writing this so I decided to have it posted in parts, or else this will be the longest three words you’ll ever read, I suppose.

Shutter

I have been into arts for as long as I can remember. Photography, being an art, and being around a lot of people whose passion revolves in the very colorful universe of cameras -- be it film, digital, classics or high-techs, point and shoots, SLRs (single-lens reflex) or even toy cameras – I was easily hooked and my own passion for landscapes, portraits, street photography, macro shots and several other kinds of photography has grown.

But it really all started on December 10, 2006, when I met the man we fondly call Manong Ben, a photographer (I’m not actually sure if he’s a pro but his shots are definitely not those of amateurs) who did a photo cover for our then newly formed Filipino airsoft team here in Japan on our first ever jungle game. I saw him unloading from the trunk of his car what seemed to be an aluminum hard case withholding a radioactive bomb of sorts. In there lies his Pentax digital SLR and a couple of lenses, I guess.

He shot us with his camera as we shoot enemies down from the hills, the forest and the grasslands. After each set he would show us how the pictures turned up and it was really impressive. (You can find some of his shots here. The photo on the banner is also his shot during that day). It was then that I told myself, if ever I would get myself a camera it would be a DSLR.

DSLRs have gotten more popular and photography has really taken a whole new popular culture worldwide in the past couple of years. And being in Japan, where technology and gadgetry is fast evolving, one will see the swarms of cameras and its almost required accessories at about anywhere in and out of the cities.

I had to admit that DSLRs are relatively pricey on the consumer line. I actually had to save up for about 2 years before I could afford one. My eyes were already trained on two major players in the camera business, Canon and Nikon. But I am actually inclined on buying the latter. Though it was a Canon that my hands first got its grip on, I ended up buying the freshly released Nikon D90 last September 21, 2008 right at the heart of technology in Japan – Akihabara, Tokyo (Japan’s electronics town district). It was really a matter of personal choice and not the performance comparison as I have always believed that Canon and Nikon are both great brands and have their own pros and cons.

Since the acquisition of my own camera, I have been shooting almost non-stop. I haven’t actually found my forte yet but recent activities and acquaintances lead me to enjoy fashion and glamour (portraiture) photography. Still, my dwelling with this new found passion is in the exploration stage and there are a lot of things to try and to be learned.