For the longest time, I considered photography “something other people do”, a far-away profession or even hobby that required talent and patience I lacked. I was content with taking hit-or-miss lower-quality pictures on my phone.

Then something changed. I started getting compliments about photos I had casually taken, with said phone no less. For my birthday, I received a DSLR camera to let me tentatively explore photography further. I experimented with it on my next trip, with mixed results. A few months later, I attended an arts camp in Vermont for two weeks, learning the basic ins and outs of programs like Photoshop. Before I knew it, I was now that person who carried a camera around everywhere, such as in the picture on this page from my trip to the Grand Canyon. Although I was never as invested as some of my friends, photography became one of my hobbies.

Life went on, and I began to do it more sparsely as school grew busier. I don’t take nearly as many photos as I once did, but I still love it. Stepping back and going back to my phone left me to consider that maybe my original conception of photography was flawed in another way: that I had thought pictures captured with a digital or film camera “counted” more. I realized that there are no barriers to art, and the instrument matters less than I thought. Remarkable pictures can still be taken with a cell phone, just as terrible pictures can be taken with a digital camera, something I had proven to myself on both counts. While being able to control aperture and shutter speed can definitely help, there’s no “right” way to do it..