A Different Kind Of Satisfaction From My Photography

Be someone's "life preserver."  Give them a helping hand if they ask.  Share your photographic
 knowledge and experience freely. (click to enlarge)

I get enormous satisfaction from my photography.  I fell madly in love with photography in the spring of 1971 and that passion I have for it has not waned one iota.  I love wandering through the countryside as well as old historic districts in cities and towns looking for interesting things to photograph.  I love finding and capturing interesting subjects that others just don't see.  I enjoy photographing family events.  I love editing my images in ways that fulfill my vision in what I saw in my mind's eye versus what was there (my camera is not a copy machine but a tool to create my art).  I love sharing my images with all of you.  All of that has brought me great satisfaction and pleasure for decades.  But there is another type of satisfaction that has risen to bring as much photographic pleasure other than being out making photographs.

More and more often, individuals contact me by email and ask for advice relative to photography.  I love helping them.  I really do.  I feel useful.  As opposed to others, I don't charge for my help and advice.  How could I?  With 53 years experience and closely following what transpires in the photographic world—with what the manufacturers produce, trends, professionals and reviewers—as closely as I do, I feel comfortable giving my advice to those who ask.  

I get great satisfaction and pleasure from helping others become better photographers as well as helping them in choosing the gear that is right for them and for the kinds of photography they want to practice.  How many of you spent hundreds or thousands of dollars buying gear and then discovering it is not what really serves your needs.  I try to help others avoid that.  I enjoy explaining photographic techniques, technical aspects of photography and the pros and cons of various sensor sizes, lenses and camera brands.

My feeling is that if I can help others enjoy their photography as much as I have enjoyed mine over the decades, then I'm doing something lasting and worthwhile.  I am not just creating images I am leaving a lasting legacy or sorts.

The lesson here is to share your knowledge, experiences, successes and failures with others as a way of helping them become better.  You know as well as I do that none of us goes through life on our own without help from others at some point in time.  So, be that "life preserver" (see what I did here referencing the photo above?  Lol.) and willingly help your fellow photographers with their questions.  You'll get as much satisfaction from that as I do.  I'd bet on it.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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