Photography

I enjoy taking photos as a hobby, but pay the bills by writing and editing professionally. When I worked at a newspaper, I would always talk with the photo editors after deadline for advice on taking pictures and about how they learned photography. Writing about cameras and photography for myself (in a blog nobody reads) has helped me take better pictures, because it pushes me to think more deliberately about what I'm doing. I can see how writing could help anyone, especially if they ever want to write a book about taking better pictures or get into photojournalism or write a book that presents their artwork. For writing in general, I highly recommend the books "Simple & Direct" (Barzun) and "On Writing Well" (Zinsser). In both professions, photography and writing, self editing is one of the most difficult, yet most important, skills to learn.