What is your favourite hobby?

What is your favorite hobby? Is one of the one most asked questions by young children who I meet occasionally in my travels. I tell them, photography is my favourite hobby. Then they ask me why it is my favourite hobby. I take a minute or two to think about it myself. I honestly tell them my answer - Photography is my way of speaking.
You see, Photography has been a way for me to express my feelings, my thoughts, my imagination and my heart. It is a means for me to express my thoughts, my motions and my interest which is basic - to capture the inner beauty of my people. So many times, our people, the First Nations have been labeled as the bush whackers or Indians with no life to name a few. The photos I take of people are a means of showing the world who we are, how we live, where we live, how we live and the list goes on and on.
I started practicing photography at the age of 9, with the use of an old polaroid camera. old big jumbo ones where the film comes out after you take a picture. I loved it. It was a gift sent from my parents. During my early days, nobody took an interest in fine art, that all changed after I received my camera. I was out and about, I would spend hundreds of dollars on buying film for the camera. Evantually I saved enough money to buy my own point and shoot cameras, then gradually advanced to a Kodak digital camera. It was a hobby that transpired me to purchase a Canon 40D. It wasn’t because a few friends owned it, but basically because I wanted to capture more things. Photography has been a means of survival for me as well. As I strive to capture still images, they also make a profit. Sales of these photos normally go from$ 20-$100 depending on what it is they want, how they want it, and where they want it sent. May I make it clear, my work is not about money, it’s about capturing what my mind and eyes see. Recently, my friend Kerina and I started a webpage which you can check out. The name we picked was Rez Nation Photography. The name itself is unique. Although we had other names somehow, this name came out bolder and clearer. Rez Nation shows our pride for our people. It tells you how proud we are as First Nations youth. We have teamed up together to capture photos of our people, our tribe, our communities, our nation to show the world our perspective of who we are and to change the way the world has labeled us. Our goal will remain the same: to capture the beauty of our people. Our goal is to photograph images of our everyday lives as well as set schedules of photoshoots, weddings, etc. We have been asked to go to a few places already so we’re real excited that we’re going somewhere with this. I will stop right here. Please feel free to contact us, ask us questions, and we’ll be happy to answer them. You can visit our webpage at http://reznationphotography.myknet.org with random photos to be uploaded occasionally.