Talent Is Overrated: Here's How to Become a Better Photographer

Talent can be a strange and nebulous thing, and we often ascribe it way too much importance, which can in turn be a serious roadblock to growing as a creative. This great video examines the idea of talent and why you shouldn't be so worried about it.

Coming to you from Jamie Windsor, this insightful video talks about the idea of talent and why it's not always that relevant. I think it's an important thing to carefully consider, as it can be easy to look longingly at the careers and output of successful creatives and think that only an unattainable amount of talent propelled them to that level of achievement. And while in many professional pursuits, certain people are more naturally predisposed to success than others, time and again, it's the people who put in monumental and downright obsessive amounts of time and effort into perfecting every aspect of their craft who rise to the top of their respective field. The next time you look at that jaw-dropping photograph or listen to that epic guitar solo, remember that decades of bad pictures and practicing scales went into creating those masterpieces. Often, if you keep grinding away, good things will eventually happen. 

Alex Cooke's picture

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

Ya Alex...it's called mass production. If you can't make anything of quality, produce a high number of something at a lower price. Some people (hopefully many) will compromise and convince themselves to buy something that approximates quality....and the knock-off industry was born.

If this is true, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart also must have struggled for decades before he composed anything good.
He started composing when he was 4 or 5, he died when he was 35...
If talent is not important, he must have worked extremely hard and failed a lot in the first 3 years of his life I guess…

Sure, anyone can improve their (technical) skills if they work hard, but you still need a lot of talent and creativity to get to the top of your art.