Sure, it is wise for beginners to learn from experienced photographers, but there are certain qualities that most new photographers have that many experienced photographers spend years trying to recover.
In this video, photographer Alex Kilbee considers the great things that uniquely set beginner photographers apart, allowing an unburdened approach toward photography. Lots of knowledge can actually interfere when you are trying to take photos due to the vast amount of information that has been built up over many years of training and practice. The beginner photographer is not burdened with this knowledge, and so, they just see something and take a picture of it, not thinking beyond what is in front of them too much. That is an extremely free way of taking photographs.
It's certainly an interesting take on the topic. Experienced photographers can sometimes lose their inquisitiveness as they become comfortable with their skills and routines. They've mastered the technical aspects, honed their artistic vision, and built a portfolio. This confidence can lead to complacency, where they stick to familiar subjects and techniques, failing to explore new horizons. Yet, photography thrives on curiosity, and the beginner can shoot fuelled with raw passion, relying more on instinct than thought, which is a wonderful trait for a photographer to have.
Can we recapture some of the qualities that we had as beginners? Perhaps it is possible to regain a little of this magic when we pick up a new piece of equipment or approach familiar subjects in new ways.
Brand new photographers sometimes have the advantage of not comparing their own work to others'. As a photography instructor, I've seen this at play and tried to stay out of beginners' way. OTOH, many very quickly begin to emulate the imagery that's all around us and get led down the cliché path. I fell into this trap in my first year. Those who ignore others' work, or who study the work of many historically great photographers, have a fighting chance of not wasting their time reproducing greeting card and postcard imagery and finding their own vision.
I also teach, and one of my favourite things about the job is giving everyone the same task/brief and seeing the array of different results that come back - some quite literal and some more abstract versions of what was asked. I encourage learners to concentrate on the quality of the work they are producing first and foremost. Its their choice what they point their lens at, and if the results are greeting card or cliché that could be described as emulation, which can in itself indicate signs of success or improvement needed. Its all learning, and a fun journey for most.
Brand new photographers have courage! They aren't adraid of failure because they never experienced it (sadly, yet), so they are more creative in their ways and they don't worry about trying out "dated" styles and trends. When I first started I remember loving editing my pictures in Photoworks in such a way so that there would be a splach of color in a b/w shot and my friend, a more experienced self-taught photographer at the time, used to tell me how dated this looks. Well, I never gave in and stopped with the color splash thing only when I got tired of it. Why would I stop earlier, if it was something I liked? Might not the be perfect example, but the courage of novelty definitely exists.
Very true Catherine. That unbridled freedom does seem to fade over time for a number of reasons, perhaps external pressures and expectations are mostly to blame for putting ideas in the heads of beginners along with advice. Your example of pop colour is a really good one. I used to hate when clients would ask me to edit their kids images to black and white but leave their eyes blue, I tell my students as such all the time but always preface the conversation that it is my personal preference, and I'm open to someone showing me a great example to change my mind!