A Photographer’s Three Phases of Development
Post & Photo by Joe Farace – Follow Joe on Twitter
While learning and refining their skills I believe that most photographers progress through three distinct phases in their development.
Phase One occurs immediately after they purchase their first “good” camera and discover photography’s potential for fun and creativity. During this time, novice shooters are fearless and enthusiastically explore their world. Each and every memory card is chock full of files that contains images that look so much better than they could have ever imagined. Unfortunately, this blissful period doesn’t last long and is quickly replaced by the next phase.
During Phase two, the photographer’s level of enthusiasm is still high but is somewhat diminished when reviewing their latest images only to discover that these new photographs are much worse than they had expected. Unfortunately, this phase can last a long time but the shooter continues to improve their skills by reading publications like Shutterbug and blogs like Photofocus, all the while practicing the art and craft of photography until they eventually reach the third and final phase.
During Phase three the images the photographer sees in their viewfinder and what they actually capture are exactly what they expected. There are no surprises. It’s just as good or bad as they expected when they snapped the shutter. While reaching this phase can be fulfilling, some of the magic is understandably lost. The upside is that fewer images are made because there’s no “shoot and hope for the best.” The biggest challenge occurring at this phase is that a photographer can end up shooting the same images over and over for years and years. So it’s up to you to break free from your comfort zone and do something to make sure that doesn’t happen.
One of the things I like to do to get out of a rut is to shoot in monochrome mode. If you think that’s a bad idea because what happens if you change your mind and want the original to be in color? Many digital SLRs cameras have a RAW+JPEG option that lets you capture a monochrome (JPEG) and color (RAW) file at the same time. With some dual-slot camera, even let you can save each file type to a different card.
Another great idea to prevent your photography from becoming stagnant is to follow Scott Bourne’s advice and make a new photograph each day. To see one example, I created a SmugMug gallery called “2011 Photo of the Day” and you can visit it from time to time to see what I’m up to. Occasionally highlights will be posted on my Twitter page so please follow me there for updates.
Joe is the author of “Creative Digital Monochrome Effects published by Lark Books.
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