Photography is made from two Greek words, photos, which means light and graphé, which means drawing. Some people say writing, but it’s the same principle. So photography is drawing with light.
It is that simple. The word comes from photo which means light, and graphé which means drawing. But for me, photography is much more than that. Photography has been a huge part of my life since my early teens. And that is a long time ago I can assure you! Photography is the thing that I have spent my entire adult life studying, learning, practising, sharing and enjoying. Photography has taken me to so many unique places and given me so many unforgettable experiences.
I do feel very fortunate to have found photography, which has been a lifetime interest and joy even now when it is my actual job. Or did photography find me? Sorry, I was at risk of getting deep there – it won’t happen again!
You can listen to the episode here
Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!
When was this word created?
Apparently, it was John Herschel who came up with the word in 1839. Yeah, 1839, 181 years ago now! Just think how much the world has changed since then – quite scary really. Think about how much things changed last year!
History lesson over
Okay, that was the briefest of brief history lessons ever – back to me. Let me tell you about some things that photography has given me.
1 – A business I really enjoy.
And a business that I’m in control of. And I do pretty much everything for that business from clients approaching me to the issue of edited images.
2 – Imposter Syndrome
Even now when I have edited images and issued them to a client, I look at them and think that they were taken by a real photographer, not me.
But no – I created those images!
3 – Creating great work
Another thing that I really enjoy is processing images. And for some reason I get particular pleasure out of this, especially processing interior shots. I just love bringing out the light in interior spaces and working with clients.
4 – Broadening my base
My photography business has broadened my horizons massively. My main clients are architects, construction companies, marketing firms, house builders, developers, PR companies, quite a good range of people. And people that I would have never come across without my photography business.
5 – My business website
I created this all by myself, and I am very proud of this. This is my Rick McEvoy Photography website.
6 – My weekly blog
I’ve learned loads from writing a weekly blog post, as I’ve had to really get into things to explain them.
7 – YouTube
I’ve also learned how to do YouTube videos and have a YouTube channel.
8 – Podcasting
And finally, well, not finally, but this podcast was something I’ve been wanting to do for absolutely ages. I’m actually quite proud of it – is not great at the moment but we’ll get there. I am determined to do this well!
9 – Affiliate marketing
And yeah, the last thing about my business is that I have affiliate agreements with other companies.
10 – The images I create
Anyway, this is something that I have genuine expertise in. As I mentioned before the issuing of photos for clients, even though I’m sort of surprised that I’ve managed to create something so good, it’s a brilliant feeling.
11 – A lifetimes study
I’ve been doing this for well over 30 years and I spent a lot of like 30 years practising studying, learning and developing, perhaps to the point where I can honestly say that I have a degree of expertise in photography.
And when I meet somebody who’s got an interest in photography, like just starting out, then I realise how much I’ve learned and how far I’ve come and then I love talking to those people about what I have learned. My take on things is not always right but I have my take on things.
12 – Sharing my expertise
My websites give me an opportunity to share my expertise online with my blog, website, social media and other things.
13 – Sunrises
Photography has given me so many fantastic sunrises on holiday, not every morning but two to three mornings in a fortnight is reasonable. I get up at stupid o’clock, get my bag, snacks and stuff and disappear.
Recently, I’ve started doing videos as well. So maybe this is even better. But I wouldn’t have ever seen this all without photography.
14 – The photos I have taken
Another thing that photography has given me is a huge range of photos from all over the world. And I started using Lightroom in 2007 so every photograph I’ve taken since then is in a single Lightroom catalogue. This is a fantastic library that I’ve got, which I can go back to any time and just look at stuff. It’s brilliant.
15 – Unique locations
Photography has taken me to some unique locations. One of note was a gravel loading facility on the live rail network to photograph the carriages being unloaded of their shipments of gravel.
16 – Still an imposter
I’ll mention it again, I look at my photos and think that they were taken by somebody else, ie a professional photographer. I am still suffering from imposter syndrome, it seems even after 13 years of making money doing this stuff.
I have still got that thing, which isn’t bad.
So that’s just a very brief introduction to what photography means to me. I could have written a lot more than that, but I’m not going to speak for the sake of it. I’m just going to say what I want to say. And then I’m going to sign off.
Next episode
In the next episode of the Photography Explained Podcast, how does a camera actually work? Again, I’m starting with the very beginnings of photography.
I don’t feel that I have found this information anywhere else as to how a camera actually works. I think it’s a great subject.
Waffle
So I’m not going to start waffling here. I was beginning to pad out the episode which I promised myself I wouldn’t do. The aim isn’t 10 minutes. The aim is to tell you what I want to tell you. If it takes 10 minutes it takes 10 minutes, if it takes 11 minutes that is fine.
Beer
It’s time for a beer which is good with me. Okay, thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed episode one of my podcast. If you did, please leave a nice review and rating wherever you get your podcast from. Please subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.
I’ll get some show notes done as well.
Oh yeah. If you could tell everybody else you know about my podcast that will be even better. That will help my podcast grow.
Finally, let me know if there is a photography thing you want to explain. Cheers for now. See you in the next episode. Bye.
OK – that was the podcast episode.
Want to know more?
Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.
And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.
Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.
Let me send you stuff
I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.
And finally a little bit about me
Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.
Thank you
Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).
Cheers from me Rick
