Welcome to my blog - why and how I got into Photography!

Hello! My name is Barry O'Neill and I am currently studying Marketing at Ulster University - this is my first blog post ever... so it may not be the best BUT your here so enjoy!

I want to share with you my passion for taking photos and what made me get into Photography. Throughout my life I have always been a creative type of person whether that be expressing myself through the clothing I wear to being a very open person and transparent with new ideas. I have had many hobbies previously including sport and music all of which have never really give me that addiction or adrenalin that I get from taking photos - sounds weird right? Let me explain to you why that is... I don't see photos as just pictures, rather as a piece of art that you can bring to life by using various tools and photography skills which can play on your emotions, values and beliefs. Take for example a photo of a simple Flower, something many people take for granted, but if you sit and study each vein on each petal and the grains of pollen that wait innocently for the wind to snatch you will begin to see how amazing nature really is! I don't just take photos of flowers by the way. Photography allows me to capture memories and to further study things that are of interest to me.

I visited Botanic gardens last weekend and even though it isn't the best time of year to go picturing flowers, I managed to get some decent shots.

So how did I go about getting into photography? Well for years I have watched influencers, famous photographers and even family members work the lens - wishing one day I would be able to have my own DSLR camera. Eventually 3 Christmas' ago I was gifted my very own Canon EOS 750D, it became trial and error and almost like a toy. I played about with it until I knew what I was doing (or so I thought). I wasn't satisfied with just knowing the basic taking photos on auto and wanted to branch out, therefore I enrolled for a class in the Belfast Metropolitan college - where I learnt many different skills from how to use different IS0's to mastering depth of field photography. I have many aspirations - I want to widen my accessories with some new lenses which will enable me to take many new different types of photos however this costs money! Another aspiration is to venture into people photography - its hard to find a photogenic human who isn't too shy to get in-front of the lens, so hey if any of you fancy yourself as a model, hit me up :) 

I don't want to bore you all to death with the personal anecdotes, so please be sure to stick around for all things visual including trips and pictures from home and some getaways that I have planned!

P.S. Do you enjoy photography ? Where does your passion lie? 

Instagram- capturedbybarry
LinkedIn- barry-oneill-492773155
Twitter- twitter.com/CapturedbyB