I’m Embarking on a Journey of Amateur Photography

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Whether you take photos anywhere you go in life or are someone who enjoys the moment without a camera, photography plays a major role in life. I know from experience.

I can be at a concert with friends, spending time with my family at a new travel destination or even walking around my neighborhood. I take pictures of it all.

My iPhone’s camera roll has over 7,500 photos already. This comes down to me talking way too many photos and also living as much life as I can.

Nevertheless, I embarked on a photography project that captured my love for this hobby.

I Spelled Out My School’s Name in Letters from Photos

It wasn’t an original idea of mine. I found it the other day when browsing through the wondrous world of the internet.

I saw that many folks spelled out words like “Family” and “Love” with photos of everyday objects and places that look like letters. I thought it was the coolest thing anyone had ever done.

As a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all members of the university community are called Illini. I thought it would be perfect to spell this out with photos.

Thus, my photography project began.

I took photos of common sites around campus to spell out “Illini.” I wanted to make sure they were locations everyone knew, but looked like letters in plain site if you look at them correctly.

The end result was this:

I know it’s not perfect by any means, but for a first time embarking on such a project like this, I thought it turned out really well.

In order, the sites include Foellinger Auditorum, the Morrow Plots, the railing of the Undergraduate Library, the Eternal Flame and the South Bell Tower.

Who would’ve thought sites I see every day would become part of this amazing project? I know I didn’t.

What This Project Taught Me

I had never done anything like this before. But I’m always willing to try something once worth doing so.

As I took photos of the different sites, I focused on many things when doing so. It’s something I don’t know normally do when I take photos.

• I paid attention to lighting.
• I paid attention to detail.
• I made sure this was the image I wanted to capture.

Most of the time when I take photos with my phone, I don’t pay attention to these extra tasks. However, this project taught me I should.

No photo will ever be perfect, but we can work hard to make sure it’s darn near close to it.

That’s what I tried to do with this project. I know it’s not the best work ever, but it’s a first step in the right direction. This will not be the only time I ever do something like this.

Most of the all, the project taught me patience. Without this important skill, life can pass us by quick, just like a good photo.

We must be patient in life. If we don’t, it’s going to be a tough road ahead.

I didn’t know an amateur photography project would teach me this, but I’m glad it did. For that, I am forever grateful.

Closing Thoughts

I’m by no means a professional photographer. I probably will never ever be one in life.

But I’ll always be a photographer.

It’s a skill anyone can learn, master and continue to do as long as they can, especially for projects like this. It was a blast taking part in this project, and I can’t wait to do it again.

Wherever the future holds, I’m ready to capture it with my camera.