My journey with photography
Four years ago I started studying photography, who knew it would be the best decision of my life.
2016
Since high school, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker, and I still do, but that dream has changed a little bit. When I finished high school, I decided to wait one year to enter university, why? I wanted to study abroad, I didn’t want to study in Mexico, and at the time the plan was to go to Madrid, Spain to study filmmaking, it eventually happened, but before that, in 2016 I got my first camera, a Sony hx400v, it was a beautiful camera.
I got enrolled into a photography diploma, at the time that caught my attention, and as I began I was amazed by all the things photography is, it never went to my head that all the buttons of a camera had a unique purpose, all the changes you have to make to get more or less light, more or less speed, it was very new for me. My teacher had a very special way of teaching, he talked about photography as if it was a poem, you could tell he was passionate about it. Here are some of my first photos for the class, and my final project.
After that first introduction to photography, I was really impressed, I was ready to continue to learn more about this world, so I took a product photography class, and it blew my mind, managing light to create beautiful things, the production that it takes to put together every element that it’s going to be captured, and this was the result.
Finishing my course I began taking my camera everywhere, family reunions, my sibling’s graduation, trips, I was one with my camera, trying this different light, and this different angle, I was practicing every chance I could.
2017
I flew to Spain in September, I’ve waited a year for this and finally, I was going to start learning filmmaking, and I did, how to write a script, how to analyze a movie, using photoshop, art direction, and a few other subjects. I loved my life in Spain. Still taking photos, learning, practicing, and experiencing new and exciting things. But life got complicated and I had to come back to México.
2018
Going to university was still part of the plan, and also was filmmaking, so I entered an art university. I was studying animation at the time, but the goal was to get into film eventually, and I kept learning more and more things about photography, old techniques using a can, yes a can, developing my own negatives in the darkroom, and I loved every second of it. But life kept being hard, and the university was a struggle, not because I was bad, but because it seemed like the university didn’t want me.
2019
So what did I do? something connected through all the years, I was learning and practicing photography all the time, and that’s what I decided to do, I found an academy of arts, and began from cero, learning again all the basics of photography. I got a new camera Cano 77D, that I love and I use at the moment. My education took me to video classes, photoshop, studio photography, architecture, printing, even make a book, and follow a theme for a couple of months.
Now
I look back at my first photos and I am amazed by all the things I’ve learned. All those experiences just made me who I am today, I’ve been in many places, I’ve met a lot of people, had a lot of different experiences, and I can see that in my photos, I’m learning my own ways and I’m loving every part of it because every moment of my journey has given me all the tools I need right now. And I’m still learning, and I’m traveling, eating, sleeping, playing, experiencing many amazing things that are happening in the world.
I’m just at the beginning of my journey, life has some bumps ¡yes! but we have to keep moving and find what we love to do, no matter what it is, no matter how we have to learn it. My dream is to make beautiful art and share it with the world and always keep doing what I love.
Here’s some of my latest work
If you’d Like to see more of my work check out my Instagram pages
@theeyeofnan for landscapes
@nanbynaan for studio photography
