Photography is a Stress Relieving Art

 Photography. It's what gets my mind off of things. Just wandering around the world, taking pictures and making to world go from a boring scene, to an artistic photograph. The shades of black, the hues of color, and the subject itself. Whether it be a person, a plant, a building or even just some railroad tracks I stumble across, it all can be made to be aesthetic.

Today I went on a photographic adventure, walking around Florida State University's campus and the areas surrounding it. I saw signs of age, and beauty, along with destruction. From old railroad tracks that came to an abrupt halt, to graffiti that was precisely done. Every detail in the graffiti was on-point and every line and curve beautifully done. Along these railroad tracks was trash that had been left there from people walking around, with no respect for nature, but all these tiny details lead to the area being like it was. There were wildflowers growing on either side of the tracks, as if placed there in random order, since there was no pattern to them, just every so often there would be a patch of flowers sprouting up from the dirt.

One of the areas on the south-east corner of FSU's campus was pretty much a industrial park, with dysfunctional railroads, abandoned warehouses and machinery and factories scattered throughout. Some people may consider this an eye sore, but I saw it as an opportunity to take some wonderful shots, which I did. Then there was the barbed wire fences surrounding each factory and each warehouse. Rusted and vine ridden, falling apart in some parts of the fence, and from some of these vines, were flowers. Which showed beauty in destruction.

Sometimes all you have to do is sit back and admire what is put in front of you, don't disturb it, let it be. Whether it be some garbage on the ground or a flower growing up through the rocks. I don't mess with these simply because each thing is a detail in what makes the place that you're in, well, the place that you're in. It's part of its personality, if inanimate objects had personalities, which in my opinion, do. The personality is in the looks, and everything that surrounds it. For example, take the graffiti on an old warehouse wall, what makes up its personality is the wall, the paint, the surrounding atmosphere. Everything makes up its personality, even just the angle that you're looking at it. I try my best to take a picture of it that captures at least most of its personality in one single picture.

Like I said earlier, photography is not only a hobby, it's also a stress reliever. It gets me away from all of the stressful events that happen in everyday life and leaves me alone, with just me and my Nikon. No, not all of my shots turn out to be great ones, but it's the act of shooting that makes the stress just leave my body. I'll look at the picture and say “That one isn't too good, hmmm, maybe this next one will be better”. I do this until I have the perfect picture, at least perfect in my eyes. That's all that photography is about in my case. It's a stress relieving art.

My lifetime goal, when it comes to photography at least, is to travel around the country, if not the world, and take pictures of different cultures, different landscapes, and just the different personalities that this world has to offer.