So what can we do?

Hey everyone!

Let's call my last couple of blog posts "wake up calls". Some may have thought they were negative, many others took it as very constructive, which was my intention. Now the question is, "What can we do?"

Here is a short list:

Get out and shoot. And shoot. And then, shoot some more. Work on your craft, learn your equipment, try out some new techniques. Make mistakes. Figure out what those mistakes were, and work through them.

Post your work, but edit yourself very critically. Shoot hundreds of images at a shoot, but ONLY post the best few images. No one wants to figure out which of the 150 image of the model in last nights class was your best, we want YOU to tell us. If you post 150 images, and the best 1 is number 75, do you think we are going to scroll through 74 to get there? More likely, we will bail out before we get to 10.

Set up your own shoots. For those of you that are students at Tri, please, please, please take all the infor you are learning in the studio, out in the field, or in your Photoshop classes and APPLY it. Don't just rest on the images shot in class that 40 other people also shot, using a set-up that someone else decided for you. Go set up your own shoot. Get friends, family, cast for models, just go creat something for yourself for from the ground up. It can be extremely rewarding. And no one else will have that shot.

Share your work. Open yourself up for critique. And do the same for others. How often have you worked on an image, and never noticed that the models necklace was backwards? We get so immerssed in our images that often we miss the biggest things. If things like this, or a consistent under exposure, or a color shift that may be caused by your monitor (this list can be long) are pointed out to us, we can work on them. If when looking at our shots, I say "hey next time, why don't you try this?" It will give you something else to think about. That is a good thing.

Slow down. Take your time. Get to know your subject. Enjoy your surroundings. Get closer. Push through.

Limit your options. Don't bring a truckload of equipment out with you. Just take 1 lens. Force yourself to get the shot. Move your feet.

Take your least used lens and use it for a few hours.

Shoot for yourself. Enjoy your work. Remember why you fell in love with photography in the first place.

Give yourself challenges. Go capture blue. Or renewal. Or jealousy. Or texture. Push yourself.

Spend less time on the internet reading about photography and cameras, and spend more time outside shooting.

Play with your white balance.

Play with lighting, reflectors, flashlights, candles.

Play with Lightroom. Take a favorite image from the past, and create 3-4 new versions of it. Learn what all the different brush tools do.

Print out your work. Give some of it away to friends.

Don't ever say "I could do that if I only had..." You don't think that if you had a Nikon D3X with the new 70-200 and Chase Jarvis had his iPhone, that he still couldn't smoke you? For Joe McNally, Chase Jarvis, Scott Bourne, and the rest, these are just tools. Some tools make your job easier, yes. But all these tools still capture light. And if the only thing these artists had at their disposal was a 2004 Canon Elph, don't think for a moment they wouldn't pick it up, figure out what the strengths and weaknesses of that camera are, and shoot to it's strengths. It's about the photographer, not the camera. The vision, not the gear.

Don't you think it would be awesome to learn your gear, create amazing images with it, and not obsess over that new $2500 lens, or the new Nikon D900? I hear a lot of people talking about waiting for the Nikon D900. While they are waiting for it, I am out shooting. What exactly are they waiting for? Do they need more megapixels? Why, because they are weak shooters and need to crop? Because it will have an "Unsuck Button?".  What are YOU waiting for? What is stopping you? What falsehood is holding you back?

The latest Canon Rebel, Nikon D3000, etc, are all so much more advanced then anything Avedon or Adams EVER used.

Know that this is as much a blog post to myself as it is to you. I am costantly dealing with the little voice that says "your a hack, you suck, you really need the 85 f/1.2, you should give your camera to someone who could do something with it". We ALL do. But I keep pushing. And I get a little better everyday. Baby steps, but it's progress. And know that there is no place called "I MADE IT". There is no final destination on the road to becoming a better photographer, but it is a journey.

Go shoot damnit. And have a great time. And know that just because some people may be ahead of you on the talent scale, they were where you are. And they think they suck too. And they are still learning, making mistakes, shooting, creating, sharing, pushing through. I bet they are out shooting right now...

The images used here are of pages from Syl Arena's excellent book "Lessons I Didn't Learn in Photo School"