What is Photography ?

what is photography to you ? why in the first place, did you pick up a camera ? and where do you see yourself in 10 years ?

These are the questions I often asked myself, to constantly remind myself to be mindful , contemplation if you will. To have fun, to make a living, to all the fame and fotune that could be.  I'm quite confident they conver 99% of us photography lovers. But they are somewhat generic. 

To me, photography is a method of recording. I don't have the patience to draw, video is not as convenient, and writing is not as thorough, or better yet, an image speaks a thousand words. So still shot gives just about a right balance, you have the option to be spontaneous or as complex as one's imagination. 

Why did I pick up a camera ? back in the schooling days, you would get a pen and a book to write on. A camera was just like that; an item needed to complete the task, and never bothered to ask in depth,  what or why I'm holding a pen. Truth is,  I am clumsy with my hands, and find no joy holding an expensive camera. In case you're wondering, I did prefer sketching more than photography back in my younger days.  

Like good many of us, travelling to exotic places is what started the exploration of cameras. Know that a camera, philosophically speaking, is an entirely different breed from photography.  And it took me years and years before I could even utter this question, because I was completely engulfed  in the wonderful world of cameras n' lenses. 

Until I know what photography to me is, I can't see myself anywhere 10 years down the road.