Thank you AJ for the suggestion. Here's my top ten
1. You can befuddle your friends
Because you can entertain your friends by making them think you’ve dropped down dead when in fact your’e just lying on the (usually wet) earth photographing something at floor level.
You can make your friends guess what you’re “seeing’ when they ask blankly “What IS so interesting about that xyz thing?”
2. It's just something to do
Because it’s something to do if like me you can’t sing or dance, or do groan-up things like accounting.
And more importantly, because if I’m holding the camera, no-one can take a picture of me. #mustgoonadietoneofthesedays
3. It’s a good left brain right brain workout
Because photography is endlessly challenging. How many buttons do we not know what they do… yet? How much of the joy of photoshop is yet undiscovered?
4. It’s beautifully selfish
Because it forces you to learn more about yourself by discovering over time (and a long time too, years in fact) what actually interests you. Strip away all the gumph and you end up with what you truly value and a better understanding of how you see the world.
5. It’s science mixed with magic
Because it’s like being a wizard. It’s seeing through our third eye….. it’s a soul-searching window to our private, personal worlds and using technology to get there. It shows us what we truly are.
6. It’s magic goggles!
Because through a lens you see new things, unexpected and exciting. You are forced to ‘live in the now’. it takes you out of the mundane day-to-day stuff so you stop and see what’s really in front of you at any given time.
7. It’s special moments in time
Because you can witness and capture love and raw emotion. You can seek out and capture tiny moments in time that are so easy to miss, yet collectively mean so much.
8. It can be a nice feeling when…
Because it’s a nice feeling when you take a photo of someone reluctant and camera say and they say they aren’t photogenic but then they are surprised when they find they like it.
9. It’s CReeeeeeeAaaaaaaTIVE
Because it’s a creative outlet - you CAN go bonkers. You can break the silly rules of thirds and what needs to be in focus or not, and you can shot into the sun - all those things you’re told to avoid. You can do it just to see what happens.
And because you can go on wondrous journeys through photoshop.... you can actually paint white over black. How cool is that?! You can do whatever the hell you want!
10. The packaging smells nice
Because you might as well. It’s something to do with the nice shiny new kit we keep buying.