Another guy with a camera problem…

I remember being 16 or 17 during my high school era, looking at a picture on a desktop at a friend’s house. If I recall correctly, it was a low angle, blue hour shot of Times Square in New York and I remember it popping from the screen and having vivid colours that appealed to me. Having better knowledge of the industry, I suspect the image was sold as a stock photo and perhaps today wouldn’t have the same effect, but at that time I remember commenting on the photo, asking of it was a personal photo taken by them. They replied no, however it spurred a conversation about my interest in photos. I was asked, why don’t you take up photography? Despite the excuse of having “too shaky of hands” that I came up with, the real answer in my head was because I wasn’t paying $600 for one of those pro “Canon Rebel” cameras (it shows what I did and didn’t know at the time).

Fast forward a few years and I was given a used Canon 40D and a couple of lenses by a family member who was no longer going to use them. Now I had no reason to not start exploring photography. Now the problem was, I had absolutely no visual arts knowledge or experience and had to start from the absolute ground up. At this time, all I wanted was to take images for my desktop background that I could brag to family members about. That’s how I started out.

Nevertheless, I “officially” say I started photography that year (2013), and despite it being a long-haul struggle with many creative lessons and questionable financial decisions, I’ve never looked back and am always looking for the next evolution in my creative endeavours.

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Based in the Edmonton region of Alberta, Canada.

Hobbyist photographer and de-facto camera gear collector.

Robert Shindell