Become a good photographer in a single day

Saturday 8 July 2023, 20:10 by Nando Harmsen | 3,391 views | 4 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Do you know Henri Cartier-Bresson's quote? He said your first ten thousand photographs are your worst. So you have to take a lot of photographs before you get a good one. Fortunately, there's a handy solution, and it won't even take that much time.

It's one of the best-known quotes in photography, and a telling one too. “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” This means you have to photograph for a while before your photographs are worth looking at.

This is Henri Cartier-Bresson, in colour
Cartier-Bresson isn't saying they are bad, just that they aren't as good as the photographs you go on to take. So it's nuanced. In fact, it means you have to go through a phase.

Fortunately, a modern camera offers a simple solution. In the best case, taking those 10,000 photographs will probably take no more than 10 minutes.

Take your camera and set it to continuous shooting. A modern camera can take up to 20 frames per second, sometimes even more. Go out, find a subject, and keep the shutter button pressed until you have taken 10,000 photographs.

At 20 frames per second, that takes 10,000 / 20 = 500 seconds. That's just 8 minutes and 20 seconds of photography.

The Nikon Z 9 doesn't stop at 20 frames per second. Even 30 is possible, and if you really want to go fast, 120 frames per second. You'll get through those 10,000 photographs in no time.

I know, not every camera is that fast, or can take that many photographs in a row. Perhaps your memory card isn't large enough to store 10,000 photographs, or you need to set aside time to empty your camera's buffer. That's why it's a good idea to set aside a day for it.

Go out and take those 10,000 photographs at 20 frames per second. Those will be your worst. After that, your photographs will at least no longer be your worst.

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