Bothered.

I know I shouldn't let people "rent space in my mind" as my husband would say, but sometimes I do.

I read a blog post this morning that bothered me. I don't know this girl, but she is a friend of a relative of a friend of mine. Ha. Still following? Anywho...she wrote about photography this morning and I felt like shit after I read it. I felt discouraged.

She talked about how much it annoyed her and bothered her that there are so many amateur photographers just buying expensive equipment and thinking they are "photographers." She would love to one day open her own business and, again, was bothered by the fact that so many other "stay at home moms" were doing this without any clue what the were doing.

Why can't people just be happy for other people? Why can't people just allow others to have something they are uber passionate about and takes a leap and goes for it? Just be happy for others, people. Why must we always judge and hate?

Should I be looked down upon because I am following my passion? Because I don't have a "mentor--someone who is more seasoned" teaching me the ropes and giving me criticism? Should my picture taking bother someone else and piss them off because I have not been taking pictures for 4,000 years? I took four years of photography in high school and have since taken pictures of anything and anyone I could for the past 10+ years. Does incessant practicing and honing my own skill not count? Must we learn from said professional before we are allowed to move forward and do something for ourselves--in my case, take pictures of people? Does that not give me the right to enjoy this thing called photography? It shouldn't. Everyone has to start somewhere...

Who the hell knows if I was lumped into her rant about how horrid these "amateurs" are, but it still got to me.

I do not like being negative, but I wanted to get my thoughts out and gain other people's perspectives.

Should we be made upset because someone else is following their true passion--doing what they love?