Head in the (I)clouds

I have always been really envious of those people who know from a young age what they wanted to do in life. Or the people who discovered that they had a talent and then developed this into a career. There are some people who fall into a job, really love it and continue to grow. These people have had a path to follow and a natural interest and love for what they do. They know what subjects to focus on and what experience they will need to carve out their dream careers.

Then there are the people like me. I have never known what I wanted to do. I knew what interested me; I had hobbies that came and went, whether it was dreaming of dancing school or endless travel, but I never really felt passionate about anything. There would also be the drawback of taking a very low wage and rent doesn't get paid from the luxury of being a dreamer.

However, all my life I have had one consistent hobby that I didn't actually realise was a hobby until the last few years. I have always been interested in photography and am constantly snapping away things that interest me.

Mainly pics from my travels, English countryside scenes and beautiful architecture. Everyone says if you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life again.

This is the dream.

These are also the types of images that I like to look at. Before Instagram became the number one platform for sharing images, I would often spend hours looking at Conde Nast and Lonely Planet books as I loved getting lost in the far away world of Brazil and the backwaters of India. I also love magazines like Period Living, I have a passion for all things traditionally British and their images conjure up all sorts of countryside lust.

With my birthday around the corner I'm hoping that a certain someone has bought me the Country Living magazine subscription.. wink wink nudge nudge Mr Poachie!!

I know reading a magazine seems so old school but I still enjoy that time away from my phone and gorgeous photos on glossy pages. It's also helped me realise that what I want to do with my life is create and share beautiful images and hopefully have them published in the magazines and websites that I love.

Recently I have been trying to set up some 'country scenes' to practice. I know they are not perfect but where do you start? I am only using my iPhone and although the camera is pretty good, eventually I will need to invest in a proper piece of kit, but which one? There are so many!

Its all very well having a good portfolio of images but then what, who do I contact? Shutterstock keeps coming up as a good place to load my images into a library where someone might buy them but if I want to get into magazine photography like Period Living do I send them images? Will they laugh at me as I'm such a newbie? 

It was one of the reasons that I started this blog. It would be a great place for me to store all of my favourite pictures. I am in no way a great writer and I had no interest in being a 'lifestyle blogger' as I didn't want to share every aspect of my life.

I feel I am in limbo between sharing all of my interests such as books, quintessentially British scenes, travel and food. And also trying to turn this hobby into something more.

In this day and age, it seems everyone is a blogger. Instagram has changed things so much the competition seems bigger than ever before but I still want to try, its not a chore for me to take photos, play around with Lightroom and then upload them here, my own little corner of the internet.

But I know how it makes me feel when another account on Insta shares my photos, or when they feature it on their page. I feel proud. I feel I have achieved something! Someone else likes my image, they think it is good enough to use themselves. 

I've never had this sense of pride or fulfilment from work or hobbies before and it makes me hungry for more. I want to keep learning, keep going and see where it takes me. It might be that it goes nowhere but I don't feel like I am wasting any time in trying.

So if you do have some tips, what camera to use, a way to connect with people in the industry. Could someone mentor me? I would like to also be involved in styling the shoot not just being behind the camera.

All advice is welcome, thank you in advance!