I started photography when I had a sporting goods store in the Philippines. I loved hunting then and one of my hunting buddies sold me my first SLR camera, a used Canon FTB. It was love at first sight. I could not get enough of photography. Within a few weeks I knew the limitations of my wonderful, but inadequate for my needs, camera.

After getting advice from a photographer friend, I purchased a brand new Canon F-1. It was top of the line in those days and I used it as often as I could to learn to become a good photographer…It didn’t work for me. Taking photographs was harder than I thought it would be, and the cost of printing rapidly became too costly. That was the long and short of my photographer’s life…The F-1 retired and I went on to other hobbies…When Kodak came out with their first digital camera, a bulky 1.3 mega pixel piece whose name I don’t remember, my second short lived love affair with photography ended…

Years later, in California, while creating marketing collateral for the Aquatic Gallery in Milpitas, I had the opportunity to photograph some of the most beautiful images of tropical fish and corals as part of my assignment using the newly released Canon XT. This 6.3 megapixel camera instantly reignited my desire for taking photographs.

I learned to use it while working and savored the opportunity to study marine biology and sustainability beyond the classroom setting and capture the moments that made a difference between mediocre pictures of fish for sale and collectible photographs of aquatic life. There was now a story to tell and share. By the end of the marketing project, we had the Aquatic Gallery published in two Asian magazines and one layout was used for several mainstream aquarium and tropical fish magazines. At the end of the project, the camera was given to me. It was the most difficult separation from work that I loved. Yet in leaving with the experience and the tools, huge doors of opportunity opened up for me in the realm of visual communication.

Because digital photography gives instant feedback and eliminates the need for costly printing, I used the camera to rack up more experience. I would religiously shoot hundreds of photographs daily in virtually every conceivable possibility and angle. I would use it day and night trying to understand the play of light and shadow, positioning, timing, lighting, darkness, emotion, movement, exposure…

Photography allows me to dream my dreams and create what I see in my mind…even if it does not yet exist… until the vision becomes the image in the camera.

I must be moving in the right direction. Every article and photograph I have submitted has been published, several on the front page. My doctor has pulled out all diabetic medications from me on the condition that I climb the mountains and hills to capture the most beautiful images I can take while getting exercise and breaking into a sweat. The hills and the mountains have become my gym. When asked if I am diabetic, I can now reply no. I’m just naturally sweet.

I gave up the thrill of hunting and replaced it years later with the excitement of capturing the visual moments of love, people, animals, water, earth, wind, and fire. When I gave up hunting I donated all my trophies to the biology department of De La Salle University. Now my trophies are photographs that matter to me. I do not hang them on my walls, though several of my creations hang on other people’s walls.

I have had four minor exhibits to help the environment, the Philippine reef and the California Academy of Sciences. I had one major exhibit with a coffee table book and my composition “Lordsong” recorded by Stephanie Reese – all launched on the same day. Today I have several thousand photographs whose stories have yet to be told, interviews of people who I admire, and a music video in my YouTube channel approaching 50 thousand organic hits…

Photography has replaced hunting in my life. I am now confident that every shot I take will honor my target because the camera is my tool of choice. It is used to create not destroy, to make peace and bring joy, to show light near, not in distance and love, in abundance.

This photograph was published in FilAm Star in 2012. It was taken in Yosemite using a Sony Ericsson 1.3 megapixel cell phone camera when my Canon ran out of juice. The image became front page news…

Thank you Mike Connors for inviting me to blog on Photography through PhotoScramble. Thank you Eric Freed for helping me get started. I will always be a student of this art form and am happy to learn and share with the MorePhotos community. See you with more photos next week!