Where are you on this photography graph?

Wednesday 28 October 2020, 20:40 by Elvira Smit | 3,904 views | 0 comments

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

A graph is doing the rounds online showing the stages you can go through as a photographer. Only once you have moved through a few stages do you realise that what came before were merely stages, rather than the end point. It is quite nice to see that you do make some progress from time to time.

Let’s start with the graph in its entirety:

And now the translation of that graph to my photographic development, divided by coloured line:

Blue: how good you think you are

Ten years ago, I was very pleased with the photos I had taken. Impressed, even. I had just started taking photography a bit more seriously. Family and friends were enthusiastic about my images.

That made me want more, so I took courses and workshops. And then my photographic self-esteem collapsed like a pudding. I realised I still had a long way to go.

And then I discovered editing in Lightroom.

I created the most horrible colour monstrosities, as I see them now, which I gradually recovered from.

Then I dipped again. That was because I had finished with street photography, but turned out not to be skilled enough to work on projects. Besides, I did not have any direction yet. So there it was, my photographic self-esteem took another dive downwards.

By now, I am finally working on a long-term project and I am much happier again, photographically speaking. But that will probably change again too, one day. The straight blue line at the end of the graph is probably a bit more erratic for me.

Orange: the development of your knowledge

I followed that orange line from the graph closely. First the automatic mode, then getting to work with the individual settings. Only to then have the illusion that I would improve by buying different cameras, lenses and tripods.

But, as you can also see in the graph, that focus on equipment actually slowed my development down. I recovered from it, and fortunately quite quickly.

I am now studying composition and thinking in series, rather than individual photos. And I only buy new equipment when I find that I am running into the limits of my current gear.

Green: the actual quality of your photos

And then the most difficult one: the actual quality of my photos. Difficult because I have to try to get my eye into an objective mode. As if I were someone else, without any knowledge of how and where the photo was taken.

That works better with photos I took longer ago. And then I can definitely see improvement, fortunately.

So I can wholeheartedly recommend this: dive into your archive and look at your photos from a few years ago.

What do you see? And what has changed since then? There is a good chance you have reason to be proud of what you have learned and applied in the meantime.

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