The foundation of success in anything you do is understanding what you should be doing and what you most certainly should not be doing. Are you guilty of these three issues holding your photography back?
With the advent of social media, particularly YouTube, help videos on every facet of life have really educated people in whatever pursuits they're passionate about. A perfect example is surfing. As recently as 20 years ago, there were no such things as coaches, or technique breakdowns, or how-to instructional guides. But now? Ex-pros can't line up quickly enough to bring out their own online video courses teaching you how to go from popping-up to getting spat out of gaping barrels over shallow reefs. One thing that's common in almost every genre is the most common mistakes people make that are holding them back.
And that brings us to this great video by Mike Smith, in which he introduces three important things really holding back your photography. I particularly liked the first one because he discusses a huge advantage of digital photography that many people ignore: taking lots of photos and not being afraid to experiment from different positions because you can easily delete them and no one but you will ever see them. I see so many people get to sites and shoot from a single position with a single lens at a certain angle. "Why not move around some more and play with different options," I always think to myself. Give the video a look and let me know the biggest mistake you see photographers most commonly making.
I totally understand the "work out your creative muscle at the beginning" mentality. I always feel like my worst shots are the very first ones I take when I start shooting.
On another note, did he really do that initial interview in that little hut or was that a funny edit to make it look like he is staying there?
I was wondering the same thing: is that his home?? A hotel? An AirBnB?
And yeah, it usually takes me a couple bad images to work out that last night’s settings don’t fit this morning’s situation…
Thanks for the write up Iain, great stuff!
Patrick, that was a fun little edit I did at the start ... That hut had nothing more than a wooden bench and a dirty old fireplace but great fun cutting it together to make it work...😁👍
It seems like the older I get the longer I take to warm up as well!! 😆😆
Standing in front of a landscape with your camera on a tripod, shoulder-to-shoulder with other photographers with cameras on tripods like you see on those Instagram vs Reality Reels (On Instagram). Might as well try and take an original photo of the Grand Canyon or the Sedona area.
Ha totally. Everytime I have found myself in that situation, if possible, I step back and capture the group of photographers shooting the same thing. Always joked I'd publish a book called "Exotic Landscapes" or something like that with these photos.