July 2019 - 69of Ooohs and Awwws but will you get anything valuable
to help you improve your photography? Probably not.
Friends and family who do not understand the nuances of
photography will never be able to help you improve. They
will rarely critique your work in order to please you.- Posting in Flickr groups: Doing this will likely get you
dozens of “awards” and invites to share your image in
other groups. However, most people on Flickr are quick
to say “wow great image”, but offer little in the way of an
actual, helpful critique.
Now let’s look at some good ways and places to share your
images: - Sharing your images with other members of a photography
club who are in the same boat as you – can be a safe and
supportive environment, and a good way to get helpful tips
and feedback, at least to start with. - Taking an actual photography class where you can get
feedback from a trained photography teacher is a great
way to start. Again not all teachers are equal either so get
referrals or read reviews before joining. - Taking an online course that offers either participant or
instructor feedback. Do this as much as possible with the
courses on various platforms. Usually you will pay a lot for
courses with full student/instructor interaction, so choose
one that’s right for your level and budget. - Participate in photography contests but be choosy as they
are not all alike. Select a contest that offers feedback like
Photocrowd, that does not keep your copyright (look for
that in the FAQ section or rules), and has the possibility of
even winning a prize. - Find a personal mentor. Well this one is harder but can
reap a lot of benefits for you if you make the effort. A
mentor could be anyone who has more experience in
photography, it doesn’t have to be a teacher or professional
photographer. But they do have to be willing to support
you in your photographic journey. Be gentle and helpful
with their feedback and have the time to do so. Look to
camera clubs for long time members, retired professionals
or even reach out to people online whose work you admire.
Fear that you will never get all the camera stuff
“When will I get all this, when will it be easy?” – those are
the questions everyone asks. The answer is when you put in
the time to do more photography, and practice with intention.
What is meant by that? Well, you can read all you want
about riding a bicycle, but how will you actually learn to do
that? Right, get on one and just do it. You may fall a few
times, scrape your knee, but eventually you’ll get the hang
of it. The same is true of anything including photography.
The more you pick up your camera the faster you’ll learn.
As for practicing with intention, that involves giving yourself
exercises or challenges. Do things you haven’t done before.
Use new settings on your camera you didn’t know were there.
Go photograph something different, or in a way you haven’t
done before, using a new technique or new genre. Whatever it
is, pick one thing at a time and practice that one thing until you
know it inside out. Then pick another and do it again.
It is said that if it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert, it
takes 50 to be capable. So start working on your 50 hours.
If you only pick up your camera on weekends and always go
shoot the same thing, in the same way, your learning process
will be slow. To accelerate it, you honestly just need to practice
photography more often.Fear that you won’t have time to do photography
Like anything, we do the things we put priority on first, and
things that get written in our calendar and on our to do lists.
The point is that if photography is important to you, and is a
priority in your life, schedule it. Pick a time once a week and
mark off a block of time to go shoot something, or practice
something so you get in your 50 hours.
You can also make it double duty by combining it with
something else that’s also important to you, such as spending
time with your kids or family. What is better way for you to
have fun than to go to the park and photograph your children
playing? Or maybe if you want to try night photography or
light painting, get your kids to run the flashlight or move the
sparkler (if they are old enough).
There are all kinds of studies that show us how much time
we as a society in general waste, especially watching television
or on our mobile devices. Go out with your camera and leave
your phone at home for a few hours. Do anything other than
staring mindlessly at the screen. Even when you do get glued
to the screen, read about a technique you want to learn so
when you have time you can go try it, or watch a YouTube
video or tutorial which will help you a lot. The bottom line here
is, if you love something from the bottom of your heart, you
always find time for it.TEXT: sanchiT Mishra