In photography, like any art, you tend to experience ups and downs when it comes to your satisfaction with your work and ability to produce quality, innovative images. This great video examines why things may not be going your way and what you can do about it.
Coming to you from Benjamin Jaworskyj, this helpful video talks about how methods of working and certain photographic philosophies might be holding you. Jaworskyj makes some great points, but of them, I think my favorite is focusing on quality over quantity. For example, I often see Instagram accounts or websites with a few excellent shots that are buried among passable but not especially compelling images. It's much, much better to present potential clients with 10-15 truly excellent shots than 100 okay shots that obscure your best work. The same idea applies to shooting: in most genres, it's best to focus on crafting a few high quality, elegant images rather than shooting a ton and sitting back down to the computer with the hopes that something good is in there. You'll have much more control over the final product this way and you'll be able to rely on your skill to ensure you create good work rather than the luck of large numbers.
And the more expensive the better ;)
In my experience, the two main things that can cause dissatisfaction are 1.) actual failure to accomplish a goal you /know/ you truly do want to accomplish, and 2.) perceived failure, due to missing the forest for the trees, or attempting to "be something you are not meant to be" as an artist.
It takes a while to tell the difference between the two, and there is essentially never a true 100% breakdown of one versus the other. It's almost always a little bit of both.
That sounded profound but I have no idea what it means. Really.
Come on, he is very straightforward. Either you are not happy because you actually failed with your project or you set the bar too high. And the goal is to figure out which one is the case.
Thanks for the explanation. 'I know that I, Sam, do not have your superior intellect and education.' :-) With understanding, I can say that hasn't been my experience. My only cause of dissatisfaction comes from not doing my best. If I were to produce an image that made all of humanity weep with joy, but I only half tried, I would be miserable, feeling no better than a thief having stolen what I could not earn. On the other hand, having spent a year of my life in the search of such an image but barely producing a snapshot, the effort would have been enough.
Hi Sam,
I'm sorry, that was indeed a mouthful. Let me try this:
Sometimes, you simply fail to capture the photo you wanted to capture, even though the conditions were right, and you had the best creative vision, and your shot would have been the best possible outcome, had you got it.
Other times, you fail to capture the photo that you SHOULD have captured, and miss the optimal outcome entirely, whether due to having blinders on due to your own expectation of the moment, or attempting to "be someone you're not" and chase a style of photography that isn't really your style, but you're just doing it because it seems popular to do.
Hope this makes sense.
MUCH better! Thanks! :-)
That thumbnail is enough to convince me not to watch the video
Lessons well worth repeating since, like those pertaining to gambling and women, they're forgotten as often as they're learned. My only (rhetorical) question is, while I know good lighting can make a poor composition look good and poor lighting can ruin a good composition, should you really be looking for good lighting first or find a good composition and then wait for, or create, good lighting? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Some great advice