I’ve been interested in photography since I had a device that could take even the most rudimentary pictures, which would probably be some sort of flip phone from the mid-2000s. The image quality was awful compared to today’s iPhone camera technology, but I thought the filters were fun to use— you could make your photo look embossed, or like a pencil sketch.

Then when I got an iPod touch in high school (it had a camera with a whopping 0.7 megapixels!) and discovered Instagram when it was first created, I fell in love. Yes, I was using Instagram before it was cool, when it was all about making your photos look like vintage Polaroids.

In the Photography Journey series, I’m going to take a look at some of my photos from the early days (2011) to now.

July 16, 2011. My first Instagram post of my dog, Spot.

Also July 16, 2011. My lovely and sweet-natured bird, Checkers, attempting to eat my camera.

I had tons of fun experimenting with photography on my iPod. I took photos of things in movement, using the HDR mode to produce a ghost effect, added fun filters to make my images look old or vibrant, took pictures of reflections, silhouettes, and tried out different compositions and color combinations.

July 16, 2011. I find this picture amusing because it is a pretty random subject, but this was the kind of thing I would take pictures of in the very beginning. I guess the creative process has to begin somewhere…

July 31, 2011. Growing up in Los Angeles afforded endless opportunities for creativity. My mom and I frequently visited downtown to go to Olvera Street, Little Tokyo, or Clifton’s Cafeteria.

Aug 5, 2011. Experimenting with reflections in my dad’s binoculars at the beach.

Sep 5, 2011. To this day, capturing a picture of objects in a row, like fence posts, is still one of my favorite compositional techniques.

Oct 8, 2011. I remember being SO excited about this photo I took at Universal Studios, Hollywood. Not only was I a big Jaws fan, but I managed to get this silhouette of someone taking a picture when their own flash went off.

Oct 4, 2011. My grandma lived in Huntington Park, just outside of downtown Los Angeles, on the top floor of an apartment building. You could even see the Hollywood Sign in the distance above the LA skyline (but you can’t see it in this picture).

Dec 13, 2011. Ah, there it is, nice and close. I enjoyed hiking up behind the Hollywood Sign several times with my friends.

Nov 25, 2011. Recognize this Ferris wheel? It’s at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier and appears in lots of movies and television shows. Probably my favorite Ferris wheel ever.

Nov 25, 2011. Taken from the Santa Monica Pier, and possibly while on the Ferris Wheel. This is one of those photos that I remember being very pleased with at the time, probably because the quality seemed slightly better and because the silhouettes were so crisp against the wet sand.

Feb 8, 2012. An example of “ghosting” using HDR (high dynamic range). The camera takes multiple exposures and blends them together to get a better exposure. However, when used with a moving subject, you get multiple captures of the same object in different places, creating “ghost” images. I like how each of the bird’s wing positions are captured here.

Going through these old Instagram posts has been very nostalgic. Some of the photos feel very close to me, in the sense that I can almost feel what I felt as I worked on these images all those years ago. I haven’t posted on Instagram in several years now, but going through my old posts reminds me of just how seriously I took it for quite some time and how happy it made me.

Photography Journey Pt. 1

Photography Journey Pt. 2