Sparked by an enrichment class in his early school days where he first learned the craft, photography became a lifelong passion for Photography host David Makela. He shares his talents in SPACES, Sudbury’s algorithm-free social network

Sudbury SPACES fans, please welcome one of your Photography space hosts, David Makela.

SPACES is Village Media’s homegrown, hyper-local social site, where you can meet friends and neighbours and learn more about your community.

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Sudbury’s Photography space already has almost 300 members, with several keen local photographers sharing their snaps of Sudbury and area and admiring each others’ photos as well.

“It’s a nice, friendly space to share and have your photos be seen,” reflected Makela. “It’s a positive community, with none of the negativity and picking fights that you see on other larger social media platforms. I am enjoying it.”

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Makela caught the photography bug in an enrichment class in grade school, when he had the opportunity to take photos and develop his own prints in a darkroom. Sadly, the bug had to lie dormant until he received a point and shoot camera later in life and was able to shoot and take his photos in to be developed.

“The cost of film and developing limited me until the digital age, when my photography bug started to really develop, ultimately taking hold around 2010,” he explained.

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Makela is an outdoorsy guy, never happier than when he is outside hiking, hunting, fishing, boating and camping, and his trusty camera is always at his side in these outdoor adventures.

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“Most of my photos aren’t planned, just something that happens when I am doing these other things,” he said. “Sometimes you get lucky and see something different, or an awesome composition.”

Makela added, “I’m not one for taking posed photos, I hate that! Most of my photos are of the natural world, although of course I take photos of the grandkids. I take photos that mean something to me, for myself really. It has been fun sharing them on SPACES, too.”

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Makela is mainly a self-taught photographer, although he did take a one-year online course with an email critique once a week, which taught him the basics of exposure and composition. “When I went from a point and shoot to a digital DSLR, that was a bit of a learning curve,” he admitted. “I do believe that some things can’t be taught, like composition. You can get better at it, but you have to have something there to start with, I think.”

Makela’s photos recently have been beautiful shots of autumn scenes in the area, and they have garnered some nice reactions, with plenty of likes and comments, plus ideas for more shots.

There are several other photographers who also post frequently, and Makela tries to like and comment on their work as well. “George and Paul post a lot,” he said. “Paul is in Sudbury Shutterbugs as well, he has a good eye and is learning a lot.”

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In the future, Makela would love to see even more participation in the Sudbury Photography space, and an opportunity for some constructive feedback. “It has great potential, it is such a positive space,” he said. “It would be nice if we had some more advanced photographers on there, willing to help people out with questions and comments, to help people get better.”

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He finished, “It’s a really nice place, very supportive. I am happy I joined and happy to be sharing and getting to know people.”

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If you are a photographer who wants to help other photographers grow and learn in a positive environment, check out the Sudbury Photography space here.