borrowed the laptop of a friend of mine, who had Adobe Photoshop installed, I also had the opportunity to take my first steps in editing. I had always felt that editing cannot turn a bad picture into a good one, which I found out to be true. Yet, it helps to get more out of a picture than the camera can initially do. Editing software is also necessary if you want to create HDR (high dynamic range) images, which are created by stacking several photos taken from the exact same position with exposure times. I always wanted to try this out and was glad to have the opportunity.
So, whenever I had the time, I took my camera, went out, shot until my battery died, got back home, went through the newly taken pictures, deleted, kept and edited those I disliked and liked until, at the end of four months, I had around 2.500 pictures of Northern Ireland on my hard drive. I was pretty proud of what I had learned and photographed, but I also knew that I still had a lot more to learn. For starters, I had to find out the hard way that 2.500 pictures are way too many to show to friends and loved ones or anyone else. Even though I loved every single one of them, not every single one of them was a good picture. What made them good for me was merely the fact that I knew small back stories to each of them. So while for me ten different pictures of one cliff told ten different stories, for others they were simply ten pictures of a piece of rock, which may look impressive on one picture but get boring with the third at the latest. Thus, I learned that I had not only to think carefully about what is worth taking a picture of but also about what images are worth keeping.
Step by step, I gained more and more experience. And even though now, three years later, I am still learning, I am also still very passionate about photography. I love that I can capture the beauty nature offers at day and at nighttime, and that I can keep memories of birthdays and weddings alive for ever. The positive feedback of friends, family and, through the internet, other photographers worldwide keeps me going and inspires me to keep exploring the world through the lenses of my camera. All of this might have never happened if I hadn’t decided to study abroad in the heaven on earth that Northern Ireland is to me. So I guess they were right by saying that studying in another country will change your life because it did so for me.
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Picture: Portrush. Willi Böhme