[Read Part 1. The Beginning]
Don’t Drown!
In fact, I hadn’t really dived into photography till my 36. To my mind, that was that actual moment in life when you take a look back on years behind and realize that it’s about a half of an average lifetime has passed, and you still didn’t have enough time to enjoy what you’re doing. Because your job isn’t interesting you; on your weekends, you feel tired and too lazy to go out somewhere for shooting or even to stay at home and learn some processing technique; only on your vacation, you feel and notice a life, the taste and vision come back to you, and you shoot, shoot, shoot, and then come back home, and… return to your job and, again, have no time (actually, strength and wish!) to process all this bunch of RAW files.
If you now are in such a situation, let me give you a bit of tiny advice. If you don’t mind. Just shoot in jpeg with the picture style you like. Then either show the best images you took to anyone you want or find and download free Lightroom presets, install Lightroom on your computer, learn its basics in one or two days, and get the result that won’t be looking dull and boring as unprocessed RAW files. That’s it! Eventually, the most important is to enjoy what you’re doing. If you don’t like to spend much time processing your images, so don’t do it! Don’t turn your favorite hobby into another dull work!
Of course, you should understand that doing this way you won’t get outstanding results. Your photos won’t look like the best examples of the World’s best photographers. But they’re living with photography. Every single moment is in it. Even if they don’t photograph or process at the moment, they plan a forthcoming shooting and learn the location. If not so, they think over how exactly, where, and what to shoot. If not all that previous, they study a new technique or some unfamiliar equipment. Even if not all the mentioned, then they just look around and find the interesting object, the good foreshortening, probably simultaneously with some other activity be it just a walk with their dog or washing the dishes, whatever. For them, that’s not already a hobby. That’s their entire life.
Read further: Part 3. Fails And Hope
[Read Part 1. The Beginning]