In general, I aim to share with you the techniques I use to improve my images. However, I think it would be useful to confess that there are days when the magic just doesn’t happen!
I had such a day recently - I returned from the flower market with a bunch of exquisite parrot tulips. Their form, their colours and detail were simply extraordinary. There was, I thought, no reason not to create stunning photos. Mega excited, back at my studio, I placed a characterful bud in front of my lens and I started to become acquainted with her. Well, the magic wasn’t happening - there was zero chemistry. I tried a different lens, still I achieved nothing of note. I approached from different angles, I added and removed macro filters - I just could not achieve that je ne sais quoi. So - I walked away, somewhat frustrated, and I returned to charm the exquisite (but slightly arrogant) tulip the following day.
Quite by coincidence I watched a YouTube video that evening by a fabulous street photographer in New York, Faizal Westcott (street photography is another genre for which I have a passion) and he mentioned that there are days when he ventures out with his camera and he returns with not one single image that pleases him. He comments that if we are satisfied with the vast majority of our photos (no matter the genre) our standards aren’t high enough! Indeed, if we are content with our images it suggests we aren’t being appropriately critical of our work, that we aren’t pushing ourselves to ‘up our game’ nor are we identifying where we might make progress. Sometimes in our work, we plateau for a while - perhaps without quite knowing why, but it is essential to work through the moment because we will be rewarded with growth.
Maybe I was looking for an excuse for my day’s failure but his words certainly resonated with me!
Work through the bumpy days and please remember (this is so important) - we are only competing with ourselves, we should not be competing with anyone else. It is our personal progress which is relevant.
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Thank you for your interest and let’s see what we can learn together.