Important Lessons for All Photographers

It can be easy to get caught up in things like talking about gear or finding dramatic locations for creating stunning images, but there is a lot more to becoming a successful and fulfilled photographer than just those things. If you want to both improve your images and enjoy the experience more, check out this awesome video tutorial that offers some excellent advice sure to put you on your way. 

Coming to you from Joshua Peg, this excellent video essay discusses some important lessons for becoming both a better and more fulfilled photographer. Of them, I think two of the most important are finding beauty in mundane scenes and finding joy in the experience of the craft, not just the results. Anyone can go to a popular, epic location and take a compelling image, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. However, it takes a photographer to look at a plain scene and find a unique way of rendering it to make a compelling image, and practicing that skill will make you both a more versatile and effective creative. And of course, enjoy the journey; after all, we all first picked up a camera because we loved the craft. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Peg.

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Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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2 Comments

"That's the difference between somebody who knows how to use a camera and somebody who is a good photographer." Great line.

You are doing a great job to tell all how to become a great image finder. I try to explain myself to others and how to get some great images. It is when and where you are and what you see and in your mind you compose it where no one else sees it. Yes, it is good to see others images to help in dreaming of the image but you can never capture a similar or exact image. Many travel the world over to all those great places but never look in their own place. Like here he shows going to the Zoo vs going to an exotic far away place.
My examples 1. I wake up one morning to go hunting deer and on the way I see strange ice formations all over, I head back get my camera and spend the morning getting images before they melt. 2. Using TPE app I planned the day when the setting sun would line up with some cooling towers. 3. Ever see people in an oil sheen and all you have is a point and shoot but capture it, a lady years later captured it and her image went world wide. 4. Out for your anniversary dinner and you spot a sunset through the windows, yes you ask your wife and the waiter if you can.
It is the eyes that catch it and some skills you have never tried before for an image to be forever on your wall and no others.