Once upon a time, I always felt that old age is a very scary thing.
Older, the skin is no longer smooth, wrinkled, slower responsiveness, poorer health, etc., and perhaps some diseases, perhaps pouring most of their lives to raise children are not around, their own one with their partners to support each other to live.
The old, can not walk, may only have been to stay in that comfortable small place, the night with a small bench looking at the sky, thinking a lot of once said to do things, all forget. No time, no physical strength ....
At the time, I thought, it seems that everything has to be piled up to the 20s to do, career achievements, marriage, traveling, surfing, etc. , it seems that these things young do not go to do, there will be little opportunity later...
However, some things I've come across recently have made me change my mind, and it's not just nursing homes and square dances that are waiting for the elderly, what kind of life you want to live depends on what kind of choices you make.
Last week, I took a night photography class with about 50 people. Surprisingly, there were very few young people, and most of them were middle-aged and old.
The main teacher of the course was an experienced master of photography, about 60 years old. In the first theoretical lesson, the teacher shared with us some of his shooting skills and experiences. He has traveled to many places, such as Dubai, Taipei, the United States, Northwest China, Xinjiang, Finland, etc., and his purpose is very pure, just to take pictures.
In order to capture the mysterious starry sky in Xinjiang, the DSLR needed to be left on all the time in temperatures of minus ten degrees Celsius, and because it was so cold, the teacher went back to his tent and stayed there, but the teacher who went back to his tent to sleep was worried about his DSLR, and so he had to get up and go to survey every hour or two;
When he went to Taipei, he couldn't take pictures openly because of the sensitive politics at that time.
In order to take pictures of the 101 building, the night before he left, the teacher and a few friends took a taxi in the middle of the night to Xiangshan to take pictures of the night view;
In the Northwest of the United States, in order to take pictures of what he wanted to take until the battery was dead, and sadly returned to the city, and in the end there was an unexpected harvest.
In the 2-hour long course, time whooshed by. The teacher's humor often amused the photography enthusiasts present, listening to the teacher recounting the shooting process, I feel like I also went to experience one, want to be very interesting.
At that time, the teacher was not like those middle-aged and old people in my impression, he was a young man in his 20s, full of passion.
There seem to be a lot of older people in the field, they are with their own cameras, listening carefully to the teacher, from time to time to pick up their own cameras to some of the knowledge points click, recorded in the SLR. Their eyes of serious concentration, the same as my eyes five years ago when the college entrance examination to do questions.
At that time, I realized that there seemed to be a lot of middle-aged and old people who loved photography. There were those who had taken photography as a hobby since childhood, and those who developed the hobby later, and in either case, they were even more active than the young in their approach to the matter.
In the later hands-on class, all the people brought all the tools, DSLR camera, tripod, shutter release cable, etc. to a lake, from 5:00 to 8:00, we witnessed the setting of the sun, witnessed the first light, witnessed the harassment of mosquitoes in the surrounding area, and we all very seriously shoot the night scene belonging to their own, patiently waiting for the camera's exposure to be completed, and encountered a small problem, they immediately went to When they encountered small problems, they immediately went to ask the teacher for advice. The people who don't know each other can also happily communicate with each other on some issues of photography.
It's a good feeling to be in a photography class where everyone, regardless of gender or age, is a student.
A few years ago, I went to Huangyao Ancient Town. The night scene there is especially beautiful, not yet dusk, can be seen in some of the classic location of the many tripods standing, and many tripod owners are some middle-aged and old people, groups of people together to shoot the sunset, shoot the night scene. They were running around with their heavy cameras and large tripods just to capture the beauty of the moment. At that time, I did not know anything about night photography, I did not bring a tripod, the scene was a little blurred, fortunately, I was brave enough to go up to ask a grandfather, he helped me to adjust the parameters of the camera, but also added to me, next time you come out to shoot the night scene you must bring a tripod....
That night, I not only gained the beautiful scenery, but also gained some new knowledge. I don't know why, but playing photography with some grandmothers and grandfathers is a very good thing.
Although these grandmothers and grandfathers are physically old, they are still a group of young people who love life and like to run around.
Nowadays, a lot of young people yell every day that there is no fun and no fun, the work and rest of life is chaotic, the day and night are reversed, addicted to cell phones, games, TV series, etc., the state of mind is not good, and every day, like a zombie, like a walking corpse, not to be miserly and squander their own flesh and youth. You ask them what their reasons are: "They will answer, my ideal is not to go to work" You ask them what they want the most, it is very simple, the answer is one word: "money". The first thing you need to do is to get your hands dirty.
Some young people are not as good as old people; some people are old, but they are not as old as old people.
These things have changed my original idea, waiting for old age is not only nursing homes and square dancing, and not everything has to be done in the 20s.
There was a time when I thought getting old was a very scary thing, but it's not.
Even though my physical body is aging, I am who I am, I am old and I am not old at heart, and as long as I exist in this world, I am able to do the things I love to do. Traveling, photography, running, painting, etc...
Just like that famous Grandma Moses, who started painting in her 70s and caused a sensation when she was 80 years old by having a painting exhibition in New York.
Also like the grandmother who once read an English article in the English Weekly News in English, in her 70s and 80s, went to accomplish what she had always thought she wanted to do - skydiving ...
Older people can also live a sprightly life, older people can also live elegant and decent. As long as I am not gone from this earth, we still have a great opportunity to do a lot of things, do not limit the possibilities of your life because of your age...
Although old we will walk slower, maybe we will still be a little half deaf, maybe our eyesight are not very good. None of these are reasons to spend our lives empty. You don't need any reasons or excuses to do what you love to do.
When I'm old, I'm going to wear the brightest skirt suit with a hat and the sexiest lipstick, strutting around like a work of art, and be a tugging old man; and I'm going to run all over the world, keeping all the beautiful sights in my camera and in my heart...
Old age is not terrible, old age without a trace of hobbies and interests only horror.
I like what Grandma Moses said: Some people always say: it's too late. In fact, now is the best time. Every period of life is young and timely for someone who really wants something.