Photography : Awesome Hobby

Being photographer is awesome. 
Well, maybe you’re just curious about photography, but aren’t sure if you should really dive into it. Or perhaps you’re into photography already. I have a reason why you should be a photographer. After you read these reasons you’ll probably be even more inspired by this medium, and be itching to get out and shoot more! Who knows, maybe you’ll get an idea or two for a new photo project! I sure did! :) 
You don’t ever have to do it professionally. Being a photographer just means you really love photography. 
Here's the reason..


1. Capture a memory that you can have forever.
With a photo you can capture a moment, and have it forever. I think we take that idea for granted, with photography being so ubiquitous these days. But seriously just take a second to appreciate that. If you did that in Ancient Greece they’d call you a sorcerer. 

2. See The Beauty In The Every Day
Once you start noticing details, you inevitably start to see how much beauty is all around you. Every day is filled with it—in the most ordinary or unexpected places. When you start to derive happiness from seeing some particuarly awesome light, you’ll realize that photography has changed your everyday experience.

3. Live In The Present
And to round out this theme, photography, through it’s ability to help you see details and notice the beauty around you, helps you to truly live in the present. When you shoot you have to be aware of everything if you want to capture it. You can’t be thinking about the movie you watched last night, or what you’re going to have for dinner. Photography focuses you on the now, which is incredibly valuable!

4. Share It With The Important People In Your Life
One of the top ways people got into photography (according to our results) was through someone important to them. People credited their mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, sibling, friend and even great-grandparents. Photography is a passion that you can share with the important people in your life. You can pass it down to the next generation, and spur their love of this amazing art.

5. It’s A Creative Outlet
Everyone should have a creative outlet. There’s no use pulling the excuse that you’re “not creative”. Anyone can push the button on a camera, and point it at something they think looks cool. It’s honestly that simple to be creative.

6. Make Art
And the result of that creative act? You can create art. That just flat out rocks.

7. A Great Challenge
Now, there is actually a lot more to photography than just pointing the camera at something and pressing the button. That’s where you start. But learning to become a great photographer is a serious challenge. You’ll always be learning something new, have new directions to explore, and new challenges to face. And that’s a good thing! This is a pursuit that you will never be bored with.

8. Share Your Perspective

Everyone sees things differently. Put 100 photographers in a room and you’ll get 100 different photos. The way you see the world is unique, and photography lets you share that perspective with others.

9. Express Yourself
Your unique perspective can go further than just showing people how you see a scene. Photography also lets you express yourself—your opinions and beliefs. You do this by choosing what you photograph, and how you represent it. This aspect of your photography is ever-changing as you change. You get a sense of what a photographer is like as a person by looking at their body of work. This part of photography is absolutely fascinating as a viewer, and fulfilling as a shooter.

10. Tell A Story
Photography is a fantastic story-telling medium. Whether you’re telling a story with one image, a sequence, a series, or an entire portfolio, the possiblities are endless. Just ask yourself what story you want to tell, and photography can get you there.

 11. Capture An Adventure
One very common way people get interested in photography is through travelling. Who doesn’t pack a camera with them on a trip? The more you practice and learn about photography, the better you’ll be able to document your adventure.

12. The Best Souvenir
Photographs are the best souvenir from your travels. They are personal, beautiful, and have a story behind them. The trinkets you buy in markets inevitably break, or clutter up your home. A stunning photo on the wall is personal art that puts a smile on your face as it reminds you of that exciting adventure!

13. Take You Somewhere You’ve Never Been
Maybe you haven’t been to an exotic locale, but photos can practically transport you there like a Stargate. They can show you the people, the food, and the sights. Or maybe you want to share your own travels with friends and family. They get to come along with you when you take awesome photos!

14. Get Close To What You’re Interested In
Photography is a fantastic gateway into anything else you’re interested in. Really fascinated by the music world? Become a music photographer and you’ll get to meet the musicians and observe the inner workings of the industry. We are really into coffee, and got to spend an entire day touring a local coffee roastery and shooting it. We loved the experience and they loved the photos—win-win all around.

15. Make You Feel Emotion
Photos make you feel. They can produce every emotion, from happiness, to sadness, fear and excitement. There is so much contained in one small frame—learning to produce them, and read them certainly opens you up to feeling.

16. Can Make Other People Feel Emotion
Your photos can make people happy. They can make people sad. Through simply showing your images you can evoke an emotion in someone else. With the internet you can affect so many people at once. Photography can really connect people in that way.

17. Can Make Other People Think
With your images you can also make people stop and think. Just a glance at a powerful image can stop people in their tracks. Some images can change the way you view the world for the rest of your life. Strong stuff.

18. Capture the Essence of a Person
A photo can capture the essence of a person, sometimes in just one frame. This is the goal of master portrait photographers everywhere, and an enormous challenge. But when it is achieved, it’s an incredible thing. Sometimes it takes a series of photos to express the nuances of that person, but either way photography has a way of showing those subtleties that can be hard to describe in words.

19. Remember Someone Who has Passed Away
After someone has passed, photos of them become treasured items. Without getting too morbid, everyone will die, and photos are potentially the best way to preserve the image and spirit of a person.

20. Learn More About Yourself
Photography involves a lot of introspection over the course of a career. The deeper you get, the more you realize that it’s all about what you are interested in, how you feel about it, and what you want to say to the people who view your work. As you shoot, you learn more about yourself, what you value, and how you see the world.

21. Preserve The Big Moments
Life is filled with “big moments”. Births, graduations, weddings, first steps—these are all moments that should be documented for family history. And a lot of the big moments aren’t times when you’d hire a professional photographer. Learning more about photography prepares you to capture those big moments for yourself.

22. Enjoy Photos And Memories with Loved Ones
Imagine you’re sitting around a big box of photos with friends and family. There would be a lot of talking, laughs, stories, jokes, and maybe even a tear or two. It’s an amazing way to connect.

23. Enjoy The Work of Other Photographers
History is filled with incredible photographers. The more you learn about photography, the more you appreciate their work. What makes Annie Leibovitz’s work so great? Why is Ansel Adams such a big name? Learning more gives more enjoyment.

24. Shoot Anytime, Anywhere
Photography is so accessible that you can shoot at any moment. You might not always be able to pull out a canvas and some oils to paint with, or grab a guitar and start to play if a creative urge strikes you, but a camera is so small and portable that you can shoot anytime, anywhere.

25. Capture a Feeling, Not Just An Appearance
Photographs can show more than just how something looked. They can capture how something felt. Especially if the photographer felt it themselves.

26. It’s Really Damn Fun + Exciting!!
A lot of these reasons are pretty heavy on the emotion, but photography is also just really damn fun and exciting! Shooting is a blast, and can often get the adrenaline pumping like crazy!!! It’s a trip.

27. Cameras Are Mechanical Art
Gears, dials, shutters, lenses—cameras are seriously cool. There are so many types: film, digital, instant, toy, point and shoot, SLR, TLR,  rangefinder, medium format, large format to name a few. And a lot are gorgeous machines. It’s a blast to learn more about them, and appreciate what they can do!

28. Capture The Personality of Your Pet
Pets are an important part of your life too! And they all have personalities of their own. Photos let you capture them in all their glory, to share with the whole world!!

29. Take Better Family Portraits Than You Had
Maybe you grew up with awkward family photos, and don’t want to put your own progeny through that. Learning to take great photos can help kids actually enjoy the process (it’s true!!).

30. Take Better Photos for Yourself
A lot of photography is shared, and that’s awesome. But there’s something to be said for taking great photos just for yourself. No one else sees them, comments on them, or has to like them. It’s rather freeing.

31. Freeze Movement
Photos have the incredible ability to freeze movement. From shots of Olympic athletes, to the ever-hilarious jowling, and stuff exploding, photos show us the world in a way our eyes can’t see.

32. Enjoy The Process
The process of photography can honestly be super enjoyable. Shooting is obviously a blast, but there’s more to it! Sorting and editing your images is an essential part of the process, and doesn’t have to be painful. The more you learn about it, and come to understand the *why* behind it all, the more you’ll enjoy it. It’s like spending some personal time with your photos!!

33. Create Something For Your Kids When They Are Older
Photos gain in value with every single day. Not many stocks can boast that. Each passing day brings you farther from that moment, but the photo holds it in place. Your kids might not appreciate all the photos you take of them right now, but when they are grown up, those images will be incredibly valuable.

34. Surprise Yourself
When you shoot a lot you’ll always surprise and amaze yourself. As long as you are always pushing yourself, you can be sure that photography won’t ever get dull! You’ll upload your photos and suddenly say “Wow! I can’t believe I took that!”. It’s really cool.

35. Make Money
Oh yeah, and you can potentially make money from photography! Pretty nifty, earning money from something so cool. But hopefully you can see that this is just one small reason to become a photographer. Even if you never make a dime at it, it’s definitely a worthwhile pursuit!! (Please see above for reasons why.)

Let’s wrap it up here. Anyone can become a photographer. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, what country you live in, or what language you speak. Just get your hands on a camera–any camera–and start shooting. Practice, think about your work, and open yourself up to your experiences. Keep at it and you’ll see firsthand why being a photographer is so gosh darn awesome!!

Sushi

These are the fact about Sushi that i know..

Sushi originated outside of japan

Although the Japanese get full credit for what we call sushi today, the inspiration for sushi is thought to have started in Southeast Asia. Nare-zushi, fermented fish wrapped in sour rice, originated somewhere around the Mekong River before spreading into China and ultimately Japan.
The concept of modern-day sushi was invented in Japan by Hanaya Yohei sometime around the end of the Edo period.

Sushi began as cheap fast food

Sushi caught on originally as a cheap, quick snack to eat with the hands while enjoying a theater performance.

Your wasabi is probably not real wasabi

Real wasabi comes from the root of the wasabia japonica plant, not horseradish. The powerful burn of wasabi comes from naturally antimicrobial chemicals in the plant, the perfect compliment for consuming raw seafood which may contain parasites.
Authentic wasabi is pricey. The stuff typically provided in sushi restaurants is made from horseradish and mustard powder, then dyed green with artificial dyes to resemble real wasabi.

 

Originally, sushi rice was never eaten

Sour, fermenting rice was wrapped around fermenting fish only to aid in the process of creating umami -- a unique, sour taste. Once the fermentation process was complete, the rice was discarded and only the fish consumed.

 

Nori has some scummy origins

Nori -- the seaweed used to wrap sushi -- was once scraped off of wooden pier legs and even boats, then pressed into sheets and dried in the sun. Today, nori is cultivated and farmed. Western brands toast nori for safety reasons while many Japanese brands do not.

 

Sushi becomes zushi when the type is specified

If the type of sushi precedes the word, sushi mutates to zushi. For instance, maki is maki-zushi; nigiri is nigiri-zushi.

 

Puffer fish is the most dangerous sashimi

Fugu, or pufferfish, contain lethal amounts of poison in glands and organs. If a chef inadvertently scrapes one with a knife while preparing sashimi, he could potential kill his own customer. To be certified to work with fugu sashimi, chefs in Japan must undergo a rigorous training and certification process -- then eat their own finished product! And yes, there have been deaths during the final exams.
For centuries, the only law pertaining to the Emperor of Japan is that he can never eat fugu because of the risk involved.

 

Maki rolls are a work of art

Forget the standard 'Californian roll' found at any cheap sushi outlet in the West. The ingredients for maki-zushi -- sushi rolls -- are chosen by masters so that taste, texture, and even colors complement each other. Rolls are served already sliced into disks so that customers can see the artistic work inside.

 

Maki-zushi gets its name from the mat

The bamboo mat that gives sushi rolls their cylindrical shape is called a makisu in Japanese. While sushi rolls are the most popular form of sushi in the West, the Japanese typically prefer nigiri -- a piece of fish pressed on top of a strip of rice by hand.

 

Maki-zushi isn't always rolled in seaweed

Although we are most familiar with sushi wrapped in black nori (seaweed), in Japan sometimes maki-zushi is wrapped in soy paper, cucumber, or egg.

 

Sushi is supposed to be eaten with the hands

True to its origins, the correct way to eat sushi is with your fingers. Chopsticks are typically only used to eat sashimi -- raw slices of fish.

 

Even fresh sushi is frozen first

Food safety regulations in the US and Europe require that raw fish be frozen for a certain amount of time to kill parasites. In Europe, raw fish must have been frozen at -20 degrees Celsius for at least 24 hours. Even the freshest raw fish served in Western sushi restaurants has been frozen, which damages the original taste and texture.
Japanese sushi masters are trained to recognize potential problems such as flukes and parasites in fish and avoid serving them.

 

Wasting soy sauce is bad form

Leaving behind a small pond of soy sauce with floating rice and remnants of your meal is extremely bad form. Wasting valuable soy sauce has always been frowned upon. To enjoy sushi the Japanese way, pour the smallest amount of soy sauce possible into the sushi cup and refill it as necessary.

 

You shouldn't dip sushi rice

If you do need to dip nigiri into your soy sauce, you should turn it over and lightly dip only the fish. Great pride and effort is put into creating sushi rice with the correct texture. Saturating the rice until it falls apart in your cup is considered very amateurish.
Sushi prepared with toppings such as roe or sweet and spicy sauces -- such as that put on unagi (eel) -- should never be dipped in soy sauce. To fully appreciate an authentic sushi experience, avoid drowning every piece with soy sauce. You can, however, brush additional wasabi onto each piece if you prefer them to be spicier than provided.

 

Nigiri is to be eaten upside down

Sushi connoisseurs recommend that nigiri, a slice of fish squeezed atop a strip of rice, is best enjoyed by turning it upside down and placing the fish side on your tongue. Nigiri is typically eaten with the fingers rather than chopsticks so that you can keep it together and rotate it easier.

 

You can buy the chef a drink

At the end of an authentic sushi experience, you can offer to buy the chef a shot of saki in gratitude. If he accepts, you should have one with him. Aside from the shot, avoid distracting the chef with small talk or questions about the food -- he needs to focus on his art and the sharp knife!

Sushi