"What is passion?" you ask, the dictionary defines it as "an intense desire or enthusiasm for something." A passion for cooking, a passion for traveling, a passion for being in love...A Passion for Photography.
Being in love and keeping the fire of love burning, is just like photography and keeping the passion for the craft burning. On very rare occasions we have this transcendent moments when we finally understand why we are doing, what we are doing despite the existence of many reasons that may keep us from loving and continue making great images.
"What got you into photography in the first place?", "Why did you choose photography as a hobby?", Why spend your time, effort, dedication, commitment, and yes.. a lot of your moolah on this? The answer would ultimately boil down to because we simply love photography, the simplest feeling of gratitude and content of capturing and being in those rare moments, breath-taking landscapes, marvelous cityscapes, wonderful portraits, captivating fashion, and special "once in a lifetime" occasions.
So how do we keep the passion burning?... In my opinion, well it's just like in any relationship, we have to never stop learning, understanding each other's limitations, (by each other I mean you and the camera), capitalizing on its strengths, trying different techniques. The key ingredients here are acceptance and understanding. If you are easily discouraged by what photography challenges you then, photography may not be for you. I would rather encourage you to try another medium than convince you to stay on photography and later have poorly composed photographs. You really have to love what you are doing to get great photographs. Being a photographer is also being a story teller. We tell our stories through the images we take and the moments we capture.
The challenge is to capture a photograph that would capture the heart of each moment and eventually captivate the eyes and heart of the people looking at your photos.
Knowing that other people appreciates your passion keeps me pushing myself forward. Seeing them relive the moments of an event or even the simplest of Sundays melts your heart and hearing the stories behind each image.