Behind The Lens: How Did I Get Here With Photography?

Chris Sidoruk pictured in Alaska.

If you have found this page, thank you for taking an interest in me and my work. I must admit at this current moment of writing, I don’t expect many people will see this or have much interesting in the things I have to say, but I am going to see what happens.

You have to start somewhere. There are many good reasons to have a blog in the digital age. The main purpose of this blog for now will be to share what I am up to, what I am creating, and some educational pieces from time to time. OH…… and hopefully help my website’s SEO!!

I really don’t like talking about myself much. I am just another guy no better than anyone else, but for my very first blog post I feel it’s appropriate to take some time to give a little bit of my backstory and how I got here.

In fact, upon writing I am still trying to connect some dots in my head, because I never planned to take work with the camera so seriously, but there are some key moments that I believe influenced me ending up in this direction of commercial photography + video.

Despite growing up with an uncle who had his Nikon at every family gathering I can recall in childhood, I believe my interest in photography wasn’t really put into motion until way later in 2013. It was in that year that I visited Alaska, and prior to going, I knew I was going to want to take pictures because it’s freakin’ ALASKA!!!

Alaska 2013 | A view from the Seward Highway heading to Girdwood from Anchorage.

I had no knowledge about the technical side of photography. I had zero knowledge about camera specifications. But I went to Best Buy and found a point and shoot camera that was priced appropriately for my lack of experience, and off to Alaska I went.

If you ever have an opportunity to visit, do it! It is unbelievably beautiful. I believe my surroundings were more responsible for any nice photos created, than anything I did. I was just taking “snapshots” then.

But something about capturing a landscape such as Alaska, seeded a further desire to take photos of travels and unique places.

I took a few cool pictures on a cruise. I took some in Hawaii. All nice shots, but looking back now, they were still of subpar point and zoom camera quality and my editing was not yet refined. They were snap shots of beautiful places, not well thought out photography.

Everyone starts somewhere. I was building a photographer’s eye for things and I was enjoying myself, but my skills and gear were still very much of a hobbyist.

Hawaii 2015 | Sunset on the Big Island

The next pivotal moment happened in 2015. A friend offered me a great price on their Nikon D40 DSLR camera and since my interest in taking photos was gradually growing, I took the deal with little to no thought.

Although it was a fairly simply DSLR, the upgrade from a point and shoot opened up more options and flexibility. I didn’t how to use it to it’s potential yet, but it gave me the capabilities later on when I was ready.

At that time, my seriousness was growing, but it was still very much just a hobby and I left the camera mode mostly in auto. I didn’t really dive in and learn how to use the camera and all the technical stuff behind the art form of photography.

Things like shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings were not even on my mind yet. I was still taking snapshots, but with a better camera and image sensor to give me a higher quality image and file.

One of the first events I recall documenting with this camera was an airshow. It was a really cool experience, but I still hardly had the right gear and skills. At least to my standards nowadays!

New England Air Show 2015 | The Blue Angels

I casually used the DSLR over the next few years, but never too seriously.

So how did the casual photographer in early 2017 fast forward to a photographer with a website for photo and video services in 2022?

If I haven’t bored you to death yet, then continue on! This story has a little more to it.

In late 2017 some things happened in my personal life, and I needed to make some lifestyle changes. I stopped drinking. People closer to me are aware, but it’s something I’ve never mentioned online publicly until now.

It’s not a big deal to me, it just had to be done. For a lot of early 2018 I was still feeling the lows of the previous year’s events, but eventually something got me out and about. Something I’ve always felt a connection to. The thing that me and countless others go to in rough times. Music.

In the past I enjoyed music and socializing with libations, but now I was realizing that I was a lot more aware of my social anxiety without the effects of alcohol.

I don’t mind being around drinking, and the energy from experiencing live music was something I could never give up, so I was going to find a way to curb that anxiety somewhat. Maybe that Nikon camera could keep me busy and less anxious at shows. Turns out that it did!

I was terrible the first time I tried shooting a concert. Everything was too underexposed and dark. Not in focus. I don’t think I had anything usable.

What I didn’t know then was that low light and concert photography is actually some of the toughest and most demanding photography there is. After failing pretty badly, it was clear I had some learning to do.

I bought a few books on concert photography, I watched hours upon hours of YouTube videos, got a more suitable lens for low light and I finally put my camera into manual settings.

I had a lot to learn still, but I was able to enjoy music while minimizing my anxiety and also creating images. I went to a lot of local shows where I could bring my camera and slowly but surely my skills and quality evolved.

Cruz Bay at sunset- St. John, USVI

In early 2018, I upgraded to a Nikon D7000 DSLR camera to better suit the demands of concert photography. The camera was released in 2010, so it wasn’t the latest and greatest, but it was certainly no slouch and a upgrade for me.

By the Fall of 2018, less than one year into photographing music, one of my images ended up in a music festival’s program unbeknownst to me, to promote one of their upcoming shows.

I will admit at first I was thrilled to see my image there. The initial rush felt exciting and cool, but then it slowly set in that it was printed thousands of time in programs to help drive their sales & revenue and they did not reach out to me at all, the creator of the photograph, before doing so.

All though I love music, at the end of the day it is still a business trying to make money, that needs photography for marketing and promotion and I was green to the value and business of photography.

I chalked it up to a lesson, learned about copyright laws, and after that day I realized my photography can help businesses and brands and it has worth.

In the years up until now, I have acquired some more gear that further meets my demands for photography. I have also continued to think about photography in more of a professional manner and have been learning business skills to further this path.

Which led to the creation of this website, and now this blog to hopefully assist in sharing information and driving traffic.

But it is still nice to go back to what started it all and do landscape photography when I can. I have become a lot more artistic with my landscape images over time as my skills have evolved.

Shameless plug to visit my store of wall art and see some of that work that would look great on a wall near you!

I think that covers all the major points that led to me to this point behind the lens. Thanks for sticking with me if you made it this far! I am relieved to get this whole talking about me thing out of the way.

Future blog posts will contain content from events or adventures, and I want to try and introduce some informational pieces about photography/tech stuff here and there. Have a good day!