12-29-15

Day 363 –

When I started this project, I wasn’t really being a photographer.  I was taking pictures, sure, but it wasn’t really being a photographer.  I was doing things I thought might look neat.  I was getting pictures that were fine.  There were things I was proud of, things I thought were nice photos, but I had so much to learn.  The first month of this site looks nothing like the last month.

What I really learned was what my job is as a photographer.  My job is to take the feeling about something I see or am around and create a photo that expresses that.  Sometimes it’s sadness, sometimes it’s wonder, occasionally it’s a story that’s interesting.  The best photos I’ve made are the ones where I felt something about what I was shooting, and then tried to refine that feeling into that image.

Sometimes I succeeded.  Sometimes I did not.  Sometimes I didn’t even try.  Those are the worst photos on this site, the ones where I felt rushed, where I didn’t have time, where I didn’t go looking with any feeling involved.  I can tell those photos from the rest.  I bet you can too.  Anyone can be a photographer, if they tune in to what they are feeling and work to translate that to the image.  To me, that’s the difference between a photographer and someone who just takes pictures.  It isn’t the gear, it’s what you do with it.

What have I learned.  I learned things like composition.  I learned about light and contrast.  I learned what the settings on the camera do, and what will happen to the image when I change those settings.  I learned how to apply that knowledge to the image.  I learned how to manipulate the photo in software.  And I’m still learning more about all those things.

But what I really learned was to go with what I feel.  If I feel anything about what I’m shooting, I am going to have a better shot at getting a good picture.  Even a bad picture driven by feeling is better than a decent picture that isn’t.  When I think and feel about what I’m shooting, the results simply are better.  I had to learn to trust that.

I learned how to be a photographer.  I wasn’t really comfortable calling myself a photographer until this week.  A few things I made and posted recently made me finally flip that switch.  It took a year, but I’m a photographer.

I didn’t always do a good job, but I learned how to do a better job, and that was part of the point.