Seeking Progress in Photography

[rhythmworx]

I don't find the Photo subforum 'competitive' and neither do I think it should be. However if we are photographers as a hobby, shouldn't we be striving to become as skilled as we can be?

Just as a golfer would try to improve his/her swing, chip shots or maybe his/her putting skills, a photographer should try to improve his/her techniques of composition, angle of view, framing, even post processing.

There are and have been some good photographers over my time here (they know who they are probably) and then we also have people who are newer to it and are still learning, which is fair enough, everyone has to start somewhere. Then we have the people who started as the latter and became the former.

2 people here have stood out in this regard over my time here, they know who they are, for those that don't, one has a big moustache and the other an ex mod.

The question is are you trying hard enough to evolve in your hobby?

Sharing images is fine, but wouldnt you be more pleased if when you shown someone a photograph it either inspired them or touched their heart in some way, that all the time spend on your hobby was for something worthy and is appreciated by others? Wouldn't that give you the fuel to seek to progress even further than you have already?

I think this article below is relevant to the current political state in the photo forum and so have decided to share it.

Seek Progress, Not Perfection in Your Photography...by Eric Kim

I just finished reading a new book titled: “Becoming Steve Jobs”, which is a new biography on the life of Steve Jobs. I also read the other (more famous) Walter Isaacson biography: “Steve Jobs”, and found this to be a great refresher to the life, work, and passion of Steve Jobs.

In “Becoming Steve Jobs”, one thing I found fascinating was how Steve Jobs was a practicing Buddhist. Although he could be a ruthless businessman, he balanced that with meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhist practices.

Is “perfection” a fruitless goal?

The first concept that struck me interesting was how in Buddhism there is no concept of “perfection.” You can constantly improve and head towards perfection, but you can never fully arrive there. As mentioned in the book: “Everything is in the process of becoming”.

I think this is a great concept to consider when it comes to our photography. We all seek to become the best versions of ourselves as photographers, but how do we know if we have truly “arrived” at our destination? To know we have truly achieved “success” in our photography, do we need to get a book published, do we need to have an exhibition, or do we need a certain amount of followers?

Not only that, but what is “perfection” when it comes to photography? Ultimately I think photography is (mostly) subjective. After all, we can never 100% control whether our viewers like or dislike our photographs. Each viewer takes his/her life experiences and personal philosophies into account when looking into a photograph. This ends up influencing how they judge a photograph.

Subjectivity and photography

For example, let’s say you made a really amazing street photograph of a person walking in a crowd. There are a lot of interesting hand gestures, colors, beautiful light, and no overlapping figures.

The viewer might think the photograph is uninteresting, because they prefer simpler photographs (with single-subjects). Or perhaps they aren’t educated in photography, so they wouldn’t know a “complex” composition if it hit them in the face.

But then again, who is to say that the viewer is “stupid”, “dumb”, or “uneducated?”

Let’s take another example: let’s say you make a really fascinating portrait of an indigenous woman in Africa. As foreigners, we all instinctively think that indigenous women in Africa are interesting subject matter. But if you showed the photograph to a native African person, they would think the photograph is boring and common-place (because the image isn’t novel to them).

What makes a “perfect” photograph?

So what makes a great (or perhaps) “perfect” photograph?

Part of it is composition. You want to compose a photograph well– meaning framing interesting subject-matter into the frame which contains strong emotions, gestures, or expressions. You don’t want to include distracting elements in your frame.

Another part of it is novelty. Photographs which are novel to us (which we haven’t seen before), generally tend to excite us. Novelty stimulates our sensory system, and causes us to crave more. We hate looking at the same boring, cliche thing over and over again.

But ultimately, there is no such thing as a “perfect” photograph. Why not? Because “perfection” isn’t an objective attribute we can measure. We can look at a photograph and determine the composition of the photograph, the main colors of a photograph, what is happening in the frame, the main subjects, the expressions and moods– but perfection? Forget about it.

Seeking “perfection” in your photography

So is seeking “perfection” in photography fruitless? In my opinion: yes and no.

In a sense, it is good to seek “perfection” in photography because it pushes us forward. It causes us to not become complacent with what we are doing. It inspires us to constantly reinvent ourselves, and to make every new photograph we make even better. This is kind of like the iPhone. It isn’t a perfect device, but every iteration becomes marginally better, and the ultimate goal is “perfection”.

But then again, you can never arrive at “perfection”. Even if one day you did arrive at “perfection”, that would be pretty depressing. You would have nothing to look forward to.

Apparently this happpens to a lot of people who suddenly earn a lot of money (or win the lottery). Their entire life was about struggling to stay alive, to pay the bills, to work hard for promotions, and to hustle hard. But once they suddenly get a huge amount of money dumped into their lap, they suddenly lose a sense of purpose or direction in their life.

Progress, not perfection

So how can we apply the concepts of “perfection” and the Buddhist notion of “the process of becoming” into our photography?

I think being overly-perfectionist is actually a huge detriment to our photography. Often perfectionists fall into “paralysis by analysis” – that they over-analyze scenes and situations so much that they end up not doing anything. For example, let’s say you want to pursue a photography project, and are a perfectionist. You might not have 100% of the puzzle-pieces in place, and you might end up not even starting your project. We know a lot of people like this– who have great ideas, but don’t execute.

I think rather than thinking about photography in terms of “perfection”, we should look at photography in terms of “progress”.

Progress is a much more encouraging trait. Progress is happiness. Progress means we are moving forward everyday. Progress means we are slowly becoming a better version of ourself.

My struggles with “perfection”

Personally, I don’t consider myself a “perfectionist”. Rather, I am a “satisficer”– I try to do things 80% well and just get it done. This is the philosophy I have when it comes to decision making (I don’t try to optimize and make the “best” decision, I just try to make “good enough” decisions and move on).

The same is with this blog. Nothing I write on this blog is perfect. I just like to write down my ideas, as it is a form of meditation for myself. Writing helps me explicate my thoughts. I also hope that some of the ideas on this blog are helpful to you, my dear reader.

However my big problem is this: I am more of a perfectionist in my photography. This stems from a feeling of self-criticism and a sense of self-doubt. I don’t want to put out my weak work– partly because I don’t want to spam people with so-so photographs. But I think a bigger part of it is that I always one to “one-up” myself. But this causes me to fall into “paralysis by analysis”, and I just never end up sharing anything.

So for myself, I am going to try to loosen up my perfectionist tendencies in photography, and focus on just making steady progress, and not being too self-critical, and to be more self-compassionate.

Compete against yourself

Don’t feel like you need to compete in your photography with anybody else. But still you can be competitive– against yourself.

Everyday seek to find progress in your photography and become the best photographer you can. Compete against yourself. Try to become a better photographer this year than you were last year. Seek to become “self-actualized” as a photographer, in which you are using your best abilities and skills to making images that please you.

Seek progress, not perfection.

Never stop learning

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/start-here/

Edited May 19, 2016 by rhythmworx

[villagefarang]

I think it is up to the photographer to decide how he feels and what he wants. Not everyone has unlimited potential nor the desire to turn something they enjoy into a soul-sucking job. Dance and Shag made great strides because they wanted to and it was worth the effort for them. Others may not want the same thing.

Some of us may simply wish to share with others the world as we see it. It may not be pretty or perfect but we share and others like it or they don’t. I don’t understand this desire to control the actions of others and make them conform to our own narrow view of how things must be.

Those who consider themselves serious photographers, and gain a sense of self worth from that, are not being told to stop doing what they like but I don’t think it is necessary to force others to want the same things or follow the same path.

I think a little live and let live might be nice.

[Utley]

"So for myself, I am going to try to loosen up my perfectionist tendencies in photography, and focus on just making steady progress, and not being too self-critical, and to be more self-compassionate."

I wish you would have started with this sentence, it would have saved me a lot of reading.

[SoiBiker]

If you want to progress as a photographer, forget about technique and technology, and think about what it is that you want your images to say.

[torbus]

Technique is just a necessary tool to create the feelings you want to express. If you don't know which buttons to push and how to use light, you'll risk ending up with nothing. But technique alone doesn't make a picture. It's just something you got to know to be in control.

Edited May 19, 2016 by torbus

[tandor]

"So for myself, I am going to try to loosen up my perfectionist tendencies in photography, and focus on just making steady progress, and not being too self-critical, and to be more self-compassionate."

I wish you would have started with this sentence, it would have saved me a lot of reading.

...I lost interest after this sentence...

[but then again, who is to say that the viewer is “stupid”, “dumb”, or “uneducated?”]

Edited May 20, 2016 by tandor

[klauskunkel]

photography is many things to different people. It's a craft, art, hobby, profession, a tool... and any combination thereof. As such it evokes fascination, passion, casual interest... to any degree thereof. This is dynamic, ever-changing. Some people may pursue progress consciously, some let it evolve on its own, some don't give a hoot. That's all fine with me. As for this forum, well, yes there is "image spam", more in some subforums than in others, but that's my own interpretation, for someone else it's something completely different... when I come across that, I'll just scroll faster.

[Assurancetourix]

Some of us may simply wish to share with others the world as we see it.

I think a little live and let live might be nice.

It's how I do;

if I was a professional in photo ...but I'm not ;

I have a , sorry , two little compact Olympus and I do what I can with them;

If I had much money I should like to buy a new camera, for example the new Fuji X Pro2 with two or three nice lenses and ... and ..

But for that I need about 4,000 euros that I don't have;

and if I had these euros, surely I will use them for the next years ; my last daughter will need for her years at University.

So I do with what I have ;

those here, and I know there are some, like what I share and I'm happy with that .

[Dancealot]

One thing I learned is if you want to make progress it's possible with just one camera. You've got to hold and love that camera like your baby. Progress comes from within and your willingness to improve. Not from buying superior lenses/camera's.

Erik Kim is one of my inspirators.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Dancealot

[Dancealot]

And thanks for the compliments, guys.

I must say with the recent developments of the forum I might be thinking it's time for me to move on...

[shaggy1969]

Hi folks

I feel as though I owe you all an apology and explanation as to why I stopped as a moderator on this forum!

The reason I stopped was a combination of things.The main reason was, shortly before I resigned my wife was attacked (by her own brother),leaving her in such a state,that she

was on the point of having a nervous breakdown.I was overseas at the time,and going out of my mind with worry.The only thing to do was to try and raise some cash and get back

home to my wife and family ASAP.

As I said,that was the main reason for me just disappearing.The reason why I resigned was a combination of things happening behind the scene that I was not happy with and also being frustrated in myself that I couldn't turn this forum back into a photography forum! A place where people with a genuine interest in photography could be together.not only to share their images,but to also share their knowledge,experience and passion for the art of photography!

Some of you may already of noticed that I a do not have the title of 'honorary member',that was through my own choice.Maybe because there was no honor in the way I acted,but I think it

was mainly because I never really wanted to be a moderator and only took on the function,because I firmly believed I could make a difference!

My apologies to you all!

[samuijimmy]

Hi folks

I feel as though I owe you all an apology and explanation as to why I stopped as a moderator on this forum!

The reason I stopped was a combination of things.The main reason was, shortly before I resigned my wife was attacked (by her own brother),leaving her in such a state,that she

was on the point of having a nervous breakdown.I was overseas at the time,and going out of my mind with worry.The only thing to do was to try and raise some cash and get back

home to my wife and family ASAP.

As I said,that was the main reason for me just disappearing.The reason why I resigned was a combination of things happening behind the scene that I was not happy with and also being frustrated in myself that I couldn't turn this forum back into a photography forum! A place where people with a genuine interest in photography could be together.not only to share their images,but to also share their knowledge,experience and passion for the art of photography!

Some of you may already of noticed that I a do not have the title of 'honorary member',that was through my own choice.Maybe because there was no honor in the way I acted,but I think it

was mainly because I never really wanted to be a moderator and only took on the function,because I firmly believed I could make a difference!

My apologies to you all!

Thank you for your input, again Shaggy....

There is nothing stopping anyone discussing whatever they wish too about photography there are a number of open threads already for that ...

I've said before that changes reflected comments members made ... mostly being too many threads with overlapping topics. .. It's was a maze, and still is, that from what several people have said publically too, needed to be done to help simplify things. .

Unfortunately many don't like to make views known publicly sometimes... human nature I guess... ?

But the "X name What I see " seem to have taken off well and being well received... It gives people a better chance to to express what is behind their images they post (if they wish too) It's free for anyone to do that.

Given the format of how the Forum works, we as you know are limited to how things can be done.

Ron and I are bantering around in the background with many ideas, some of which will have to go through the Admin office... some we'll put forward to members perhaps first...

Being a public forum, whatever is done, it will not please everyone, but too, we see some new members with some outstanding photography ... Some at the beginners stage too... but it gives people a chance to improve and think about what they are doing...

If one goes back on several members over the years we can see a huge improvement in their work ... no need to mention names... let's give the new beginners a chance here too....

People will always come and go. .. we have to accept that... Most of us I am sure would he pleased if you reconsidered...

Jim

[Dancealot]

And thanks for the compliments, guys.

I must say with the recent developments of the forum I might be thinking it's time for me to move on...

I don't think so chap, l have been with you doing your stuff with a camera...We all have inspiration in different fields, for sure mine is not photography but l love to see here your and others efforts.....YOU have the key, l have seen your thoughts with your camera.......Yes I have, ......Your inspiration is needed on this forum, we all know it....Feeeeeeeeeerkin rascal you.....

I always value your opinion, trans[edit] Sinatra. I just said I was thinking about it.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Dancealot

[Assurancetourix]

One thing I learned is if you want to make progress it's possible with just one camera. You've got to hold and love that camera like your baby. Progress comes from within and your willingness to improve. Not from buying superior lenses/camera's.

Erik Kim is one of my inspirators.

As u wrote, but there is a " but ";

I will never progress in night shots with what I have; my two pocket camera are very bad when a few light and worse when no light at all and needing to use the flash;

it was what I wrote about a real good one like Fuji camera, not only the X Pro2 .

[Assurancetourix]

And thanks for the compliments, guys.

I must say with the recent developments of the forum I might be thinking it's time for me to move on...

......Your inspiration is needed on this forum, we all know it....Feeeeeeeeeerkin rascal you.....

Remember Dancealot some photos I send, I upload here and wrote " as Dancealot do/did "

We all need people like you ;

you have an original approach to shoot ..

I like that, we like that ;

never forget we aren't on a professional photographic forum .