I was hiking regularly in 2011 and whenever I was using my P&S camera or my iPhone to take photos, they were not as good as what I see.. I was really disappointed for not being able to translate what I see into frames.. As luck would have it, I lost my camera on one of the hikes and I got myself a Canon T3i in Dec 2011. Since I am addicted to learning new things, I read the manual a few times and started to read books, attending photo workshops to learn how to get off automatic mode.. Within a few weeks, I knew enough to operate the camera without referencing the manual.. Since I am in IT, technical stuff is fairly easy for me to understand.. But learning to see creatively is a very long process and I am working at it.. I am reading books written by Bryan Peterson, Harold Davis, Scott Kelby, David duChemin etc. Michael S. Miller is (local photographer/teacher) is helping me with becoming a better photographer..
Photography came to me in desperate times and it has become my meditation, my zen, my stress buster.. I can lose myself for hrs at a time when I am walking with my camera.