Kids like to play grown up. Toy phones and laptops are sold because children like to be like mom, dad, and older siblings. Children “call” with their friends via toy phones and discuss movies, errands that need to be run, the weather, and the latest gossip buzzing around daycare or school. I may have been into phones as a kid; I don’t remember. What I do remember is begging my mom for my first camera.

I got my first camera when I was about 8 years old. I think I saved up for it with my Christmas and birthday money. Was I any good? Nope! The camera I used was point and shoot with no manual mode to allow for adjustments in exposure, focus, aperture, shutter speed, or ISO sensitivity, etc. I took pictures of everything, deleted a lot, and kept whatever I deemed awesome.

I shot on that first camera until I got my first iPad in high school. I went to a prep school, and since tech was creeping into every aspect of education, iPads were given to every kid in high school whose parent would pay a whopping (mandatory) $400 a year. The iPads came with spyware installed (the parents signed to allow for it) from the school to ensure that students were staying on task to finish homework and that no one visited dirty or suspicious sites. The iPad messages app must have been monitored by the school too, because I remember several occasions where students were called to the principal’s office for sketchy chat conversations. Overall, I think the school iPad system was relatively effective.

By the time I graduated, the school iPads were about as worthless as paperweights. Students had gotten caught week after week with frowned upon internet activity, and the school didn’t want to deal with monitoring everything. Solution: Block everything. I mean that quite literally. I couldn’t check the weather or news let alone upload my gorgeous selfies to Instagram! I could still use the camera on the iPad, but I couldn’t do anything with the pictures I took (except make a power point presentation or email a teacher). I turned that iPad in when I graduated. It was whatever.

So, my photography endeavors halted from the time the iPads were locked down by my prep school’s admin until I got my first phone. Tbh, my photography endeavors with my iPad were not all that great. I was able to take some great (and not great) selfies, capture cute moments with my pets, and take tourist photos, but I didn’t experiment a lot (how much can one really experiment with an iPad?).

My first phone was a Motorola G6. It worked… sorta. I wasn’t super fond of that phone, but I was a cheapskate, and my parents got a good deal on it, so I made do. That being said, I was able to take decent photos with that phone. Here are a few pics I took with the G6:

In my opinion, every good picture depends on its setup. The subject, background, lighting, and color scheme can make or break a great shot (filters are fun as finishing touches too!). I’m sure there are a lot more components that matter when going to take a good photo, but that’s what I consider first. I have a cousin who knows way more than me about photography. She does wedding, newborn, graduation, etc. photography professionally. I’ve learned quite a bit from her. Here’s a link to her site: https://www.aliyahgraceburton.com/. She’s super talented!

I used my Moto G6 phone for my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college until it started acting up. The phone would freeze and reboot with a vague message proclaiming that the operating system was done for. I didn’t have time to fuss with it, so my parents got me….. drum roll please! An iPhone 8!

Am I an Apple person? No… I really don’t care about any given product’s brand as long as the product works and is not super expensive. Apparently, my dad found this phone for a reasonable price, so I’m good with it. The iPhone 8 takes pretty good pictures, and I use it to capture moments on the go. Here are a few pics I’ve taken with it:

The iPhone 8 definitely takes better pictures than the Moto G6, but it’s still not super polished. Last Christmas, I bought a Canon EOS Rebel T7i. This camera has been so much fun to take photos with. I have two lenses right now, but I’m saving up for a third. Even with just the two lenses, I’m getting some pretty good shots. Here are a few I’ve taken:

I practice taking pictures of my pets and whatever scenery catches my eye around me. I upload some of my pictures to my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/187344194@N02/

If you like my work, feel free to contact me! I like to take pictures in my free time, and I’d love to make this super fun hobby of mine into a sort of side business. I’ve done portraits for friends and family, and I’ve done one session with kids. 10 out of 10 recommend getting into photography as a hobby.

—Candidly Callie—