[EV +/-] Exposure Compensation of photography and photographers

” It takes a while, its going to take you a while, and that’s normal, you just have to fight your your way through it, you will make things that aren’t as good as you know in your heart you want them to be, over and over again… I was not good for a very long time, but I got there, you may not feel like you are very good either, and that’s okay, just keep going” - Ira Glass

For photographers who have good taste for “good photography” it is common that this ability becomes a liability rather than an advantage. It is easy to become very self critical and disappointed when “your good taste” tells you that your photography is not at the level you like it to be.  The “better taste” you have the more demanding you can become about your work. Ironically, good taste can become paralyzing rather than enlightening  in the pursue of great work.

What to do then?

Practice, practice and practice because perfection-if one can aim to do so in photography-  comes only from practice. Perfect comes from practice. There is no great photographer that did great from the start. Use your “good taste” to guide your vision, and never to halt your progress. Don’t let it become a liability and use your “good taste” to your advantage.

If what I say is not very convincing, I hope that the short video of Ira Glass [NPR, This American Life] makes you think about it and serves as a boost to keep trying.

As a colophon …

Have you ever wonder why so many photo editors and curators are poor photographers but have “great taste” to select the best images? Perhaps their good taste paralyzed and disappointed them before they got to do great work?

I have to keep a close eye with my own example I guess.

[I found the video of Ira Glass reading the wonderful blog of Daphne Chan]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites