The 7 Stages of a Photographer: Which One Are You In?

Photography is a marathon, not a sprint, and each person's journey is unique. Although your path may evolve, photographers' stages can be similar.  

What does a photographer's stage mean? Every photographer experiences stages at some point. I recently joked that last year, I was in my emo phase. All my photos seemed deep and dark. Throughout my journey, I have gone through various stages, and here is some advice and challenges related to those stages!

The Curious Beginner

Characteristics: 

• Unknowledgable
• Excited
• Overwhelmed   

We all remember this stage! You picked up your first camera and felt ready to conquer the world, believing you could become the next National Geographic photographer. It's an exciting and one of the best times to be a photographer. While it may not be the ultimate stage, it can set the tone for your journey as a photographer. You see the world differently, and everything ignites your creativity. You don’t know what you don’t know, which is the best part of this stage. With no prior knowledge, you're not clouded in any way.  

Challenges: The challenges that you face in this stage are tremendous! There is technical jargon, the feeling of being overwhelmed, and the sense of where I want to start. There are so many things to learn, and when you have figured out one thing, you find that there are about ten other things you need to learn first. Every button on the camera is foreign, and you need to know it all in a short amount of time!

Advice: Take it slow; learn what you need to when you need to! I mentioned in the beginning photography is a marathon, not a sprint. We want to initially treat things as a sprint, consuming information from a fire hose. We want to learn it all because that is how we will become successful photographers. They say knowledge is power, and it is,  but street smarts sometimes get you a lot farther than book smarts. Slowly, learn as much as you can. If you're interested in night photography, consume that information first. See, all too often, many photographers want to read every article, watch every YouTube video, and take advice from only one photographer. They start to learn what they don’t need to at that time. They're focusing on skills that will not support their journey. Suppose you remember this one thing. The information will be there tomorrow like it was today; you don’t need to learn it all today! 

Start to focus on the fundamentals of photography: Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, and light. Learn these four things, and you have the key to photography. These things are the basis for all the information you will soon learn! Practice with intent by learning one skill at a time, like the rule of thirds, or learning all the exposure modes on your camera. 

The Gear Enthusiast 

Characteristics: 

• Gear makes you a better photographer
• The more gear, the better
• Obsession

Ah! The stage that some photographers never leave; they carry it with them forever! This was my first stage. The more gear and the better camera would make me a better photographer! What a naive thought I had. Most days, the less gear, the better! Knowing I have a billion pieces of gear is almost overwhelming. Back then, you had to open a catalog and flip the pages, marking everything you thought you needed. Now, you head to a website, add it to your cart, enter your credit card, and it's on your doorstep in less than five days. You even get the suggestion that people who ordered this also ordered these items. Now you think you need the other recommended things, because it told us, so we need it. Right? Most likely, no.

Challenges: At this point, photographers focus solely on learning the gear. They believe the most expensive lens or camera will give them the desired result. They must focus on the techniques and education to learn how to use that fancy gear they purchased! I am unsure where this thought ever came from and, over time, most likely, the marketing of camera and lens companies. Without upgrades, they lose money.  Gear doesn’t equal better photographs. When working at a camera store, I told a young lady that lenses are investments, but bodies are not. Lenses are less likely to be upgraded regularly, but bodies are almost always replaced every few years. She wanted to buy some lenses widely known to be soft and more budget-friendly than quality-driven. Why? The less she spent on lenses, the more she could spend on the camera, getting the flagship model. She saved money buying the model below the flagship, and that camera was better for what she wanted to do than the flagship camera! Now, she has purchased the lenses she wanted! 

Advice: Gear is beneficial! But often, they are purchased with the thought that more and more expensive gear translates to being a better photographer. Consider these things if you need new gear before sliding that credit card! First, will this piece of gear solve the current problem I am experiencing? Secondly, How often will I use this purchase? These two questions will help you save money and not have to brush off the gear because it just sits around. Give it thought and do it over time. 

The Technical Perfectionist       

Characteristics:

• Perfectionist
• Over thinks 
• Dives Deep 
• Thinks film is superior to digital (just kidding)
• Can forego creativeness due to perfectionism

It is the most challenging stage by far. This is due to wanting always to have a technically flawless image. Which in turn leads to the loss of creative photographs. Can you balance these two? Absolutely! This is where breaking the rules comes into place. You can still achieve technically flawless images while still being creative. Make sure you are not risking creativity over being a perfectionist. Don’t take that being a perfectionist in the image-making process is a bad thing. We all need to do this better and stop relying on Lightroom or Photoshop to make things exceptional when a few more seconds in the camera would do the same thing! Diving deep into a technique or subject will only make you a better photographer in the long run. Learn how to balance out creativity and perfectionism. One will always surpass the other; it can’t always be 50/50. 

Advice: Think; take the time to think in two ways. First, have a creative mindset; what makes this image different from others I have seen? What am I trying to show in this image? How can I make this image unique?  Secondly, think about how you will now create this image technically. What exposure settings do I need? What lens choice is going to help tell the story? What are the colors in the photograph trying to say? Break down your thinking process into two categories: creative and technical. Use KISS, not the band. How can they help? I am not sure they can.  I mean to use the method, Keep It Simple Stupid, don’t overthink, and break each element and thought process into simple thoughts. The more you overthink, the deeper into the rabbit hole you go and the harder it is to get out, and the odds of failure are tenfold just by giving up!  

The Artist

Characteristics: 

• Artsy
• Deeper and more meaningful images
• Developing a personal style 
• Finds inspiration almost everywhere

Challenges: The technical perfectionist focuses on perfection and can overlook creativity, whereas the artist forgets about being a perfectionist and concentrates solely on creativity—the complete opposite of the perfectionist. You still need to be a technical photographer, which can never be overlooked. When you can try being a perfectionist and an artist and mesh these two things together, you open a door of unlimited possibilities! The artist can find inspiration in the tiny details of their environment and create images; this is the most significant part of this stage! One will eventually cross paths with self-doubt. Self-doubt is the biggest downfall of any creative individual; it will eat at you and eventually wear you out mentally. I believe this stems from the overconsumption of social media and other photographers' images. One can learn from these two things: too much hinders the creative process. You can start to question your originality and value. 

Advice: Embrace your identity as an artist! Take the time to experiment, create images, or try techniques you've only thought about but never acted on! Accept the failures arising from the process and learn from them; this will only improve your photography skills! Over a short period, you will start to see things differently and may change the direction of your work. I have enjoyed experimenting with ideas and techniques; it changes your thinking, and many great things will come from it. Remember, let it all be there; become vulnerable. Lastly, you’ll find aspects of yourself and work you didn’t know were there!

The Visionary

Characteristics: 

• Creates cohesive images, projects, or series
• Pushes boundaries
• Thinks freely
• Bold 

Challenges: You create the most detailed images you have ever made here. You will start to sit down and reflect more deeply on the subject matter, the story, and the voice behind the images you're creating. Ideas become bolder and more prominent, leading you to think about projects specific to a particular subject or theme. During this time, you can begin to push the boundaries of image-making; the images become striking, driven by your thought process and voice. You start noticing patterns in your work, and subjects you are passionate about emerge and become more apparent to you! Challenges loom on the horizon. If you are a working photographer, the power struggle, needing to create work for clients to pay the bills, and personal work are where the passion lies. You'll need to find a way to balance these things out. If you do not, creative burnout becomes a real thing. Finding the passion every day becomes harder and harder. Self-doubt from the artist phase starts returning, growing larger and larger by the day. 

Advice: Embrace the process that helps you create cohesive projects and subject matter. The thoughts behind those bold images and projects will only help you in the long run. Implement that process in your daily life. Especially if you are a full-time photographer, take it and start using it in client work. A clearer mind creates more explicit images! You’ll begin to tell your story, seen throughout your images. You must also remember that taking breaks is healthy and a must; if not, things will turn south. Take this time to share your images and collaborate with others.  

The Mentor

Characteristics:

• Shares knowledge 
• Is not afraid to help others
• Enjoys the process of helping others

Challenges: It is by far the most rewarding stage. Being a mentor to a new photographer benefits both them and you! I have found repeatedly that when I help others with their photography, I also learn. I might be teaching something when I'm asked a question, and it sparks a thought that provides me new insight into something I have done a thousand times. I find enjoyment in sharing knowledge. You will start to see that, at this stage, you have matured in your craft. You know your work stands on it, and sharing your knowledge is no longer a fear that you think the person who has asked for your help will become better than you. I find many photographers refuse to share their knowledge because of one fear: someone might be better than them. This is the most ridiculous reason for not sharing knowledge. If you want to say you're a mentor and this is your fear, you shouldn’t call yourself a monitor; you're not ready! Another challenge is that you still need to keep learning and not think you know it all; somebody will eventually serve you a few slices of humble pie. 

Advice: Take it and run with it! Someone looks up to you enough to ask for your help, and they might have been afraid, too. Now, I am not saying you have to help them if they ask, you may not feel ready. Thats ok. At a minimum, get together occasionally, and you will start supporting them when you think you are not. In a much more informal setting! Continue to evolve in your work, new techniques, technology, and perspectives, and become a lifelong learner. I don’t think you have ever learned it all. This will only come back to bite you in the but, and remember to keep that ego in check! 

In the End

The journey of a photographer is never linear. You may hit some, all, or very few of these stages. You’ll find that you return to these stages repeatedly or never on a few. This will be because you have matured in your image-making process and evolved. You’ll find challenges and joys in all these stages and learn from failures along the way. What joys and/or challenges have you had across your journey?  Leave a comment or two with several paragraphs, as some of you do, which is excellent!