Why Photography (still)?

In 1997 I traveled outside of Egypt for the first time. I went to Milano, Italy for a music competition. With me I took a FujiFilm film camera. It remember it was red and when the film was finished, it used to automatically "roll the film back". I remember back then it was an amazing invention. Not having to spin this annoying handle.

This is all I remember, nothing more. I remember I took pictures of the buildings and my teacher said I had "the eye". I never really paid attention to what she said.

Years went by and I didn't have a camera. Until in 2006 or 2007, when my Dad got me a point and shoot camera. This is when I started taking pictures again. I had my camera with me all the time and I just took pictures of everything around me.

But why in 2016? Everybody has a DSLR or a MIL camera, even phone cameras now produce high quality images. Everybody is taking pictures, good pictures even.

In 2012 I got my first DSLR camera, a Nikon 3200. I started taking pictures again. I had my camera in my bag, all the time. And a year ago I realized, that I really, really love taking pictures.

But now that everybody has good cameras, why would I still want to take pictures? It feels like everything, that can be photographed, was already photographed, so why take more pictures? what can I add?

Nothing.

Still, taking pictures is what I enjoy most. I love taking good pictures of my friends, then seeing the smile on their faces, when they see the picture I took of them. They feel happy and make it their Facebook profile picture for example. I enjoy witnessing this happiness.

I believe good pictures bring joy to life. I also think it is nice to have a reminder of this state or even this person you loved. But more about this later.

This is why I decided to start this website. I want to showcase my pictures, but also have this space, to think about Photography, the art of picture making and also to exchange thoughts.

I took this picture a few months ago. Then I edited it (it was the first time for me to use Lightroom) and then I decided I want to keep doing this. I don't know where this is going, but I want to keep at it.

This picture is called "Sehnsucht". It's is a German word, that means longing to something, that you might don't even know. It's something that burns inside of you. Something that pushes you towards an unknown place.

I hope you like it.