An Idiot Abroad 3: The Short Way ‘Round. I can’t wait.

When people look at childhood pictures of other people, the typical response is “oh, what a cute kid!” I dig up my 6th grade yearbook from Kennedy Elementary School. I’m flipping through the pages looking up some of the girls on facebook just to see how they’ve aged. And I have to say, some of them didn’t disappoint me. At the same time, I look at the pictures of some of the people I am still in touch with today and say to myself “what a cute kid he/she was…” However, I come across my photo and I definitely wasn’t pleased. I looked absolutely awful. Almost like a malnourished southeast Asian adolescent that has no reason to be smiling; let alone having my picture taken. I don’t know why I smiled in that photo.

I’ll admit, I think all my baby and toddler pictures are pretty cute. But I think I’d have to draw the line at my adolescent years.

First off, Malaysia was an amazing race. Even though my team (McLaren) started out at the front of the grid (Hamilton: P1, Button:P2) and didn’t manage to keep it, it still was an amazing and impressive race. Sergio Perez of Sauber was able to make it 2nd nearly catching Fernando Alonso in 1st. But the error at the end, that Perez made caused him to lose pace. But the important thing is, this is his first podium and only in his 2nd year racing in Formula 1. However, 2012 is already a better season than last year. The two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel dropped down to 11th. Therefore, this season is already more competitive compared to last year! Great job, Sergio Perez!

Remembering the late great Ayrton Senna on his birthday. The greatest driver in all of Formula 1 history!  Feliz aniversário

I was told not to swim in the same river twice. But I don’t know anymore.

Above are are a handful of photos I’ve taken as a teenager.

I feel like I am no position to say this, but I have to get this off my chest. And what I’m about to say may sound ignorant to some of you who are really in-depth and passionate about photography or claim to be. (Semi-sincere apologies in advanced. Not really.) But those who understand me, Thank you.

Many people have said something similar or along the lines of what I’m about to talk about. The usual “Just because you have an expensive camera, doesn’t make you a photographer.” I hope that most of you agree with that. And I’m not having a go at people who recently got into photography or are just starting up. I’m calling out the people who are pretentious with their “work”. I know I do not have business calling them out on this since I am not remotely a photographer by any means, but I’m doing it anyway.

I’ll admit, there was a point in time when I had enjoyed photography and taking photos simply because I thought it was fun. I was introduced to photography by a friend of mine whilst in middle school. I understood the artistic values behind photography from seeing anything from the work of Ansel Adams to the amazing photos in National Geographic. When I took photos as a teenager, I could not afford a DSLR or anything along those lines. I had a simple point-and-shoot digital camera that I tried to the best of ability to take “good” photos. And by “good” I mean “good” in my eyes and not necessarily anyone else’s. However, my photography phase was short-lived as I discovered other hobbies. 

Some people have had a look at my photos and were impressed and suggested that I get back into photography. I know for a fact that I never will because I know the value of photography has changed for me because of the sudden “boom”. The amount of people that want to get into photography literally came out of nowhere. And I’m not oblivious to getting back into photography because “everyone is doing it”. I’m oblivious because the “work” of everyone who was a part of this recent “boom” is all shite! (at least from what I’ve seen) It does annoy me seeing young and pretentious people with DSLRs and don’t even know how to use it. They’re into believing that the photos they take are “good” because of the quality of the photo or simply because an object is in direct focus. I am being completely biased, but I do see several of these people taking an objects on a table that are simply arranged a certain way and photographed. To them or anyone ignorant of photography, it’s art. To many professionals, it would be a load of shite.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate photography, I think it is a brilliant art form. There are still a handful of people that I know who are amazing photographers. I would just feel differently if people didn’t get into it just to follow what everyone else is doing. (you’re already thinking “hipster” but I don’t mean it that way, though.) I’ve been told time and time again “who cares? ignore them and just get back into photography.” I can’t I’m too judgmental and I’m being honest about it. I get too much joy from offending people.

Now I’m at that point of the post where I think writing all this is stupid. I regret writing this because it’s embarrassing. I just wasted my time. Now you can laugh and call me an idiot, cunt, twat, twonk, div, asshole, douchebag etc. “Please don’t post again, this is unbelievably bad.”

I always post this up somewhere at the appropriate time. This is appropriate for this weekend.