Starting today and for the duration of December 2014, I will be making one post per day on ideas and thoughts I have had about this business of photography. And it is directed toward the professional practice of commercial photography.
I have been kicking around in this crazy business for nearly 40 years. In that time I have discovered what I didn’t know, been surprised by what I thought I knew, and still don’t know what I think I should know. But I am catching on… ya know.
Along the way on this journey I have learned a few things. Some of them seriously impactful and some of them curiously quirky.
Now these little posts may not change your life, rock your world, finally open your eyes to “the truth”. They may only make you think about photography, business, life and great beer. (More on great beer as we go along.)
Let’s get started on this list of 31 things I have learned so far. Please understand they are in no particular order, nor are they meant as a guideline for you to base your hopes, dreams and mortgage savings on.
Number One:
THE STRUGGLE TO MAKE “THE” PICTURE IS FAR HARDER THAN MAKING “A” PICTURE.
Remember getting your first camera. Remember working the dials and trying to figure out what all the technical terms were? ISO? Aperture? OFC, ISL, Sunny 16.. or 17… what is that? It was a struggle to get a decent exposure, let alone a shot worth showing to someone.
I grew up on film. Learning the myriad ways to process PlusX, pulling and pushing and zone this and zone that. The technical challenge was huge. Just choosing the wrong film for a day in the desert could mean the difference between having something halfway good or nothing at all.
And while some things are easier with digital, there are absolute challenges to learning digital exposure and the technical operation of the camera/software.
We spend time focusing on these challenges, and working toward creating the technical expertise to allow us to make a ‘perfect shot’. One where exposure, sharpness, composition and color are all exactly as we think they should be. And we can create that precision time after time… woohoo.
But the search for excellence won’t end with the ‘perfect picture’… that is only the half way point.
You now have to take that technical expertise and use it to make photographs worth looking at.
No… a perfectly exposed, wonderfully sharp, compositionally acceptable and color correct image of something that is boring as hell, or simply sucks, is of no interest to anyone. (Well, there are some forums where they dissect pixels, but then this article is not about them.)
We now have to say something with our images. We have to produce something that is both technically correct AND of interest to those who view it. To be sure, not everyone will be thrilled with what you make, but there MUST be significant numbers of those that do to in order to be able to make a living.
If you think it was tough to learn how to make something on the camera when you first started, learning how to make something worth viewing is even more of a challenge.
This will take strength and commitment, an understanding of aesthetic and good, old fashioned hard work. You will need guidance, a mentor or two, solid support from friends and family and a sharp, closely held personal vision of what you are wanting to do.
It will be the hardest thing you will ever do as a photographer.
Or a designer, writer, coder as well.
