amateur [am-uh-choor]

person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons; a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity; a person who admires something

Synonyms include: dabbler, dilettante, non-professional

I have a bookmark tacked on my cubicle wall that reads, "A professional is an amateur who didn't quit." I picked it up from a writer's faire at UCLA a few years ago and seeing it is a constant reminder of...well...everything I ever want to succeed in. My love for writing has never been motivated by the possibility of monetary fortune. But becoming an internationally renowned writer would certainly surpass every expectation and hope that I've ever had for myself. I ask myself everyday how I'll ever manage to have that and the answer is always so simple: keep writing.

But writing aside, there are so many other skills in this life that I wouldn't mind mastering. A bullet point at the forefront of my life syllabus - photography. I've always dedicated a large portion of my heart to this most malleable/easily-manipulated artform. It wasn't until recently (actually, since I met the great Ja Tecson), that mere pictures I took of family and friends became more than 4x6 printouts to glue onto a scrapbook page.

Last weekend, I spent a late afternoon at Topanga Canyon Beach with Ja, Bev, James and Jamie. As Ja Tecson's Team, we considered this a lifestyle shoot, a more informal session with an engaged couple before their wedding day. As Ja's ingenues, however, we'd call it another day of lessons learned. To shoot with a purpose has, at least for me, become the most valuable lesson thusfar. Every adjustment of shutter speed or aperture, every time you go from a wide angle lens to a zoom, every time you shoot from below rather than straight away - it all has a purpose; it all creates a unique image; it all invokes a new emotion. The hardest part of all this for me, personally? Maintaining creativity gained by intuitive calls while keeping all these technical facets in mind. How, I asked Ja, do you remember all this and still come up with such a perfect photo?! His answer: keep shooting.

Hmmm...