By request: How not to suck at photography
In response to this post, Rez said:
Paul, I desperately need to learn how to take photos like you. I dont try to pose off people, but with you i make the exception.
Please write about this if you can in your coming blogs. kind of a like a tutorial on how not to suck…i’d be very grateful.
First, a sincere thanks for the compliment. Now, so that we’ll know what the heck I’m talking about, let’s define that word, suck. I would, for the purpose of this post, define it as a serious dissatisfaction with the output of one’s own work. As in, all of my pictures suck, or at least the majority of them!
I do my best not to judge the work of others, other than to say, it appeals to me or it doesn’t. I’ve seen lots of work that hasn’t appealed to me, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it sucks. It simply means that I didn’t like the subject matter or the way that it was portrayed. That’s it.
Practice
The answer is quite simple and contained in the punch line to this joke:
A New Yorker (or in some versions Arthur Rubinstein) is approached in the street near Carnegie Hall, and asked, “Pardon me sir, but how do I get to Carnegie Hall?” He replies, “Practice, practice, practice.”
Types of practice
Of course, you could go outside and practice, practice, practice, with no particular goal in mind. This type practice is not so effective as goal-oriented practice. First, you need to find what you like. Then, you need to find your voice, or what you have to say about it. You may like sunsets, sunrises, people, frogs, parking lots, discarded shopping carts, tin cans, road signs, fog, etc. Who knows? The world is a very big place with lots of interesting things!
The most important aspect of the whole thing, I think, is to get that camera in your hand and shoot, shoot, shoot. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ways of shooting, even if someone else says that it’s wasteful, fruitless, unorthodox, etc. So what. What works for them, might not work for you. Do your thing. If you have an idea, follow it.
The work of others
In finding your voice, you’re going to run across the work of others that you like. Keep viewing the work of other photographers that you like until you discover why you like it. This is a huge clue in finding your voice. Perhaps you like the photographer’s choice of subject; the use of lines and shapes; the bold use of color; the abstract nature of the photo; the sentimentality of the subject matter.
We all seem to start by mimicry. I know I certainly did. I remember how captivated I was by Ansel Adams’ photographs when I first saw them. Every landscape photographer that I knew, seemed to want to be like AA. Similarly, in the early 80′s and 90′s, nearly every basketball player wanted to be Michael Jordon. When they went to the playground, they tried the moves that they saw Michael do last night, or perhaps they would practice the move in the driveway a few hundred times before putting it on display to the rest of the world (playground). Eventually, they added their own particulars and made it their own.
The methods are same. See something that you like. Try to duplicate it. Practice. Practice. Practice. Add your own flavor. Make it yours. Sure, there are those critics who will yell “derivative”. So what. Ask to see their portfolio! 
You have to be pleased with your work.
Proficiency
I think that you have to be technically proficient with your camera before you can become very expressive with it. The camera can get in the way if you don’t know how to use it. It can be a frustrating experience. Even if you understand color, lines, composition, etc, it really doesn’t so much matter if you cannot get the exposure right or figure out why your pictures are constantly blurry. Technical excellence turns the camera into an extension of your imagination, not a roadblock.
Acceptance
You have to accept where you are at this moment and realize that as long as you keep shooting and evaluating, not judging your work as good or bad, then you are growing. Evaluate the merits of the photograph to decide if you met your goal for the picture. Did I capture the feeling that I was trying to? Am I satisfied with the result? What more could I have done to make the shot more appealing to me? What if …? Again, the merits of the photograph, not the abilities of the photographer. Tell the inner-critic to take the day off. You’re not interested in his/her opinion of your skills!
The paradox
Don’t look for your voice to hard. You won’t find it. You’ll have to be quiet. You have to listen for it. Just keep shooting and, over time, it will find you. You’ll be drawn towards that which you like and that which speaks to you. When you start to over-think it, that’s when the confusion and anxiety sets in. Have fun and don’t let anyone tell you that you are doing ‘it’ wrong. There is no right or wrong. It’s simply what works for you.
Paul, I think Mike johnston summed it up nicely when he said he was on a quest to ever lower his hit rate. A large part of “not sucking” is to accept that a large potion of your shot will suck but that you take enough to get the good ones.
“First, you need to find what you like. Then, you need to find your voice, or what you have to say about it.”
That, my friend, is the key to success. I believe that too many people spend too much time trying to ‘not suck’ in the eyes of others rather than satisfying their own desires. Unfortunately, satisfying one’s own desires too often includes positive feedback from outside sources
Bravo!-Again! So very well said and I will re-read this to imprint it on my consciousness. I think most people need to be reminded and encouraged to stop worrying about trying to please other people. Yours is an excellent way of making the point that we can slip into trying to please those who have a either no clear vision of their own, or one that doesn’t even resonate with us. I am not saying that I can resist completely being influenced by the comments of others (I am hungry for feedback), but I make an effort to place proportional weight on the comments based on whether the commentator produces work that speaks to me.
Never before I have seen the road to personal satisfaction with your creative work described so concisely, clearly and understandable.
The other part of the “not suck” problem is the feedback we all try to get to some extent or the other. The pat on the back, the “well done” is for sure necessary especially when doing your first steps, and at a very individual moment most of us will outgrow that need, having gained enough self-confidence that we carry on to follow the path our voice tells us. This mentorship that we can experience in a successful relationship with an advanced fellow photographer can speed up in many ways the path to images that do “not suck” because in we learn to listen and follow and create.
Paul, just have to say that reflection shot is a real killer. Nice, nice, nice stuff.
Ah, the “find your own voice” drivel again. Why do people keep trying to insist that we somehow exist in a vacuum, that we must find that inner voice that is somehow ours alone and then learn to express it? Yes, we’re all different. No two people (no two anything, for that matter) are exactly the same.
Our differences, however, are generally insignificant when compared to those things that make us “similar”. We are all part of a collective consciousness in far more ways than we are unique (people like Andy Warhol notwithstanding).
That is certainly true for photographers. As Paul said himself in this post, “mimicry” is the foundation. We may find something about our own world-view that differentiates us from the crowd (slightly), but the list of similarities will still be longer than the list of differences.
And not caring about what others think? Yeah, right. That’s self-delusion of the highest order. We all care.
Suppose, for example, that one of your images became famous and of high value, but for all the wrong reasons. The public interpretation was not only not the one you intended, but ran contrary to your “vision”. Would you try to correct the public perception, even if it meant losing the standing that you had gained among your peers? Would you reject the critical acclaim?
Perhaps you would. The majority would not. Like it or not, we are more defined (and influenced) by what others think than we care to admit. For all of us, that “inner voice” is simply an amalgamation of all that we’ve absorbed from others.
Paul, this is good advice.
Find a quiet place and practice, practice, practice. Listen and watch for what appeals to you personally. Don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole; in time, your own style will emerge.
@Paul Maxim:
“And not caring about what others think? Yeah, right. That’s self-delusion of the highest order. We all care.
Suppose, for example, that one of your images became famous and of high value, but for all the wrong reasons. The public interpretation was not only not the one you intended, but ran contrary to your “vision”. Would you try to correct the public perception, even if it meant losing the standing that you had gained among your peers? Would you reject the critical acclaim?”
I don’t believe its a self-delusion at all. The point here may be that concerning yourself with what your peers think in the beginning may be somewhat self-destructive. Your scenario of unintended fame and fortune is definitely not something that should be of concern to anyone
Whether or not someone else’s interpretation of your work agrees with your own is rather irrelevant. All art is subjective. If someone else does agree with your interpretation or objective, it’s just a bonus, because it won’t happen as often as you may wish.
@Paul Maxim: Drivel. Oh, I get it. If _you_ don’t believe it, then it’s drivel.
As for not caring what other people think … well, I would have to agree with John and say that it’s not self delusion, but self-fulfillment, instead. Seeking fame leads to all sorts of fears. Fear that you might not get it, but once you get it, fear that you might lose it. Fame is the external validation that you are worthy. If you already have it internally, fame is just a bonus, but not a necessity.
How many people are suffering because they care so much about what other people think. If we could be away from that nonsense, it would put the diet industry out of business, as well as all plastic surgeons … not to mention art critics!
Well, it’s nice to know that I can still stir the pot a bit, although that wasn’t the intent here. But please read what I actually said in that comment, not what you’d like to think I said.
Nowhere did I suggest that our direction in life should be determined by what others think or say about what we as individuals do. Nor would I ever suggest that. I simply stated that our “personal” view of the world is a distillation, a synthesis, an aggregate of sorts of all of those views of people we’ve known or come in contact with throughout our lives. We don’t invent our own “inner voice” from scratch, do we? We accept some ideas and we reject some ideas, but mostly we modify thoughts and ideas that pass through our personal filtration system until we’re comfortable with them. We wind up with an outlook that is not exactly like anyone else’s, but in truth is quite similar to that of many. If that’s what you mean when you talk about finding your inner voice, then I agree with you. Frankly, though, I doubt that you’ve thought much about it. It’s a dogmatic idea that you’ve accepted because someone else (whom you respect) said it. “Find your Inner Voice and become an Artist!”, they said. Well, you obviously cared about what they thought. And that’s fine, as far as it goes.
We all care about the opinions of others who happen to agree with us. We stand together, if for no other reason than to reinforce our common set of beliefs. We don’t so much care what others think if they don’t agree with us, simply because it would undermine our view of the world. That’s human nature (not to mention the foundation of all things politic).
So when someone says that they love one of our photographs or that they totally agree with something we’ve said or written, we gladly accept that point of view. More than that, we “care about” that person’s opinion. We value it.
If, however, someone suggests that your work (whether it be photographic or written or whatever) sucks, then the tendency for many is to hide behind the assertion that they don’t care what others think. We have our own inner voice and we only have to please or provide “validation” for that voice. No one else’s matters.
Horse Pucky. You can’t have it both ways. If you attempt to create art only for yourself, show it to no one else, and destroy it afterward so that no one else sees it, then I might believe you. If you hang it – and your “Inner Voice” -out there for everyone else to see and to comment on, then your claim that you do this only for internal validation rings hollow. The very reason you put it out there is to get an external reaction, hopefully a positive one. To say otherwise is, in fact, delusional.
But hey, life’s probably a lot easier that way.
Practise makes perfect … naturally! And I believe that to be motivated to practise you need to have a keen interest in the subject. The reason some people make pictures that “suck” is that they maybe were not particularly interested in the subject and therefore didn’t go the extra mile, sort of.
If you are really interested in photography you will naturally look at what the masters – such as Ansel Adams – have done. And ask yourself: “what is it about this image that makes it so great?” Then go out and see if you can at least emulate it. That is a start. With time, you will naturally develop your own “style”.
First of all: Paul, your water reflection abstract really sings! Great photo, whether you care about my opinion or not…
I agree with Paul (Maxim, that is) insofar as I also would say that in 99% of the time we “care about the opinions of others”. Not necessarily because we want to please everybody – more because we use the outer world as a template or at least as a seed for our inner world or inner vision. It’s a reference frame. Sometimes it’s just great to break free, to ignore all external demands (makes one feel like the rebel we always wanted to be but never actually managed to be) – and on the other hand sometimes we simply seek reassurance.
The major thing might be to acknowledge that strong relationship to our outer world and to develop a strategy of handling it. And a conscious separation (“I do it only for me!”) could be one possibility. But of course, the argument that we like to show our works to others seems to be an indication, that most of us don’t go down that road. At least not completely.
The trick might be to keep your surroundings in tune with your inner vision. The problems start, if they de-synchronise… And if that happens, I would most of the times favor to change my surroundings, not my inner vision. Although questioning yourself is obviously also a rewarding habit.