ethancarkarr

travel

This post has absolutely nothing to do with photography. It does, however, have to do with finding your passion.

I believe that one way of finding your passion, or enhancing your passion, can come via traveling. In my opinion, exposing yourself to new lands, new cultures, and new people is one of the best things someone can do to find out what it feels like to be human. The inspiration, creativity, and joy that comes from traveling is addicting and gets that brain working like nothing else.

I personally experienced this when I studied abroad in Spain recently. I always knew that I loved photography, but I never knew that I LOVED photography. It was during this trip that I needed something to document these memories, and I’m not much of a writer. Therefore, I dove into photography, shared them with others, and took off on my local Facebook pages because so much of my small town loved to live vicariously through me.

the importance of immersing yourself in nature

The big blue world; quite the difference from the greenery of the Smoky Mountains.

Although this is a photography website where I can showcase my passion for photography, I have a few other passions that I like to intertwine with photography. Specifically, health and wellness.

When I go out and shoot, I always try to immerse myself in nature and enjoy the beautiful world that we live on. I always walk away from taking pictures in a forest or on the beach with a smile on my face and a genuinely happy heart.

Why is this so, however? What does being in nature have anything to do with health and wellness?

On my website, under the “nature” page, you can find some pictures of the Smoky Mountains. What does the Smoky Mountains have a lot of besides mountains? No – not bears. Forests.

A 2009 study from the Journal of Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine found that participants being immersed around trees for one day had lower blood pressure, lower cortisol, and were more relaxed. No wonder it feels good to go out, explore, and take pictures!

P.S. – Make sure to check out the article below about immersing yourself in nature (if you’re into that)!

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/how-immersing-yourself-in-nature-benefits-your-health#:~:text=These%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,reduce%20anxiety%2C%20and%20improve%20mood.

you don’t need much – use what you have

It’s a commonality for self-proclaimed Instagram photographers to have the latest fancy DSLR Cameras, $500 lenses, a tri-pod, bi-pod, camera bags, and editing software that can make even the worst photos look good.

Those simply aren’t necessary.

As Hardware Canucks said in their video linked below “You have fantastic tools at your disposal already” so there’s not reason to even be thinking about the fancier, bigger, “nicer” cameras.

I nearly made this mistake a few years ago. I was heading on a high school summer trip to Italy and Greece and was pretty confident that I needed a nice camera in order to take quality photos. I was so wrong. I took some of the best photos of the trip, and the travel company that we were working for even decided to use some of them for their website, and all I used was my iPhone. I’m so glad that I decided to spend my money not on a fancy camera, but instead an incredible hiking experience through Mount Olympus.

All you need is your phone or whatever camera that you want to use and already have. The reason I created this website was to show others that you don’t NEED any expensive equipment or ANY experience at all. Just go out and have fun!

Don’t overthink anything. Just have fun.

P.S. – As a fun little sidetone, I made sure to embed a video in this post about how the iPhone camera is arguably the best mobile camera on the market, and how it can even compete with the $500+ cameras in many aspects as well.