Originally posted by Zephos Hi everyone,
I have taken a break from photography for the last year, after pursuing it as a hobby for a few years.
I think the reason was because I kind of had an identity crisis about my photography. I had a hard time answering the question of why I was doing it. There are so many better photographers out there. They are more skilled, as well as better equipped, and all the places and things I would want to photograph have all been visited and photographed by these people before.
And yet, I still feel the urge to take my camera out and use it. I just don't know how to justify it though Also, I have always wanted to achieve the stunning results of people I see here and other places but I have always struggled to do so, despite studying, practice, etc. Sometimes I feel like I have to buy gear I can't afford and that is another reason I have put my camera away... I have a K-50 and some basic lenses and I just feel like it is a huge struggle to try and get good results with entry-level equipment. I know the K-50 is a good camera, but I often fall into the trap of thinking better equipment will somehow solve my issues. I find myself thinking that spending tons of money on a better lens will make my pictures stop being soft, or getting a higher resolution sensor will make my pictures sharper. Here is the thing - there is some truth to that - but I can't really go out and buy a new camera at the moment so I am left with the frustration of pictures that just never turn out well. The right thing to do is to just make do with what I have, I know, but how do I get into a better mindset about it?
Has anyone else been here? How do you get past this? I appreciate your responses.
Cartier-Bresson said your first 10,000 pictures are your worst. And he said that when he shot film. Today with our digital cameras I'd bet it's more like your first 50,000 are your worst. Or maybe 100,000 since I must have shot about 50,000 by now and I don't see as much improvement as I would like
So let's see... from your list:
Does everybody else seem to take better pictures than me? Check. Especially those who know how to manipulate light sources like strobists. Or those people with a fantastic eye for landscapes. I'm still stuck at trying to come up with interesting lines and points of interest in my pictures. Been there for over a year, haven't progressed all that much. But at least it's something I'm working on
Does everybody seem to have better equipment? Check. I have a K-S1 (can't complain about the IQ on that one, reallly) and a K10D that is slowly failing (most of the time half the buttons don't work, but sometimes they do...) The K10D will likely be substituted by a K50 that should be coming my way next week... but I might keep using it here and there until it dies completely because I just like the way it makes the pictures look, especially in good light.
So I guess what I am trying to say is, most of us feel the hindrances you feel (others are better, our equipment isn't good enough) but the truth is, if you see photography as something you can practice and get better at while at the same time keeping good memories, then keep doing that. If it's a burden that's not fun at all, let someone else do it, and find somethig you enjoy more. Life's short to keep doing something you don't enjoy.
As an anecdote, I found this photographer from Australia that takes pictures I really enjoy seeing. Such an inspiration. He found his niche by shooting with a Fuji 6x17 camera and his pictures are breathtaking. So I decided to see who else takes pictures with that camera and found this one other guy, I think he's here from the US, and the pictures looked nothing like the ones from the guy in Australia. But he would put comments in his pictures like "I shot this picture at F11 because I am such a perfectionist and anything over F11 will bring diffraction which I can't stand when I pixel peep". Not the exact words but you get what was going on: while this guy from Australia was taking gorgeous landscapes at f32 and f64, this other guy was taking pictures that looked like a panorama made of flat cell phone pictures and worrying about diffraction. Completely focusing on the wrong thing! That taught me a lesson... being a gear nerd won't take you anywhere. Find something that works for you and just do it. Learn composition, find interesting subjects, spend more on traveling than on gear. Who cares about the gear. I'd rather see an *istD picture of an interesting place than a 645Z picture of someone's cat or backyard.
Good luck!