[ad_1]
In photography, one learns to develop a thick skin really quickly. At least, one should. Because nothing anyone can throw at us will be as bad as the critique we give ourselves. We become our own worst critics.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. This process can allow us to learn from those mistakes we feel we made and improve. And that’s the topic discussed in this video from photographer Ari Jaaksi, otherwise known as Shoot On Film.
Analyse your own work objectively
Looking at our own work is always an interesting experience. It’s always going to feel different looking at one’s own creations. We’re looking at those images from a unique perspective that nobody else can ever understand.
Ari looks through some of his own “bad photos” and walks us through why he doesn’t like them. At the time, he thought some of them were great, but now, more detached from the image by the ravages of time, he can look at it more objectively.
I’m going through this myself at the moment. I’m looking over older shoots at the moment to try to find some specific images. These shoots are from around 2008-2015, and I haven’t thought about most of them in years.
Seeing them now through fresh eyes, I’m seeing a lot of images I’d overlooked the first time around. And looking at others brings back memories of days from long ago. And looking at some of those I’d picked in the past, I now think to myself, “wtf was I thinking?”
Even if you don’t think you’ve made a mistake when you create the image, you might believe you have at some point later in time. As our experience and style grow, we look back at our older images in a very different way.
It can also be a good way to really see how far you’ve come, too.
Learn from your mistakes
There’s a common belief out there that if your photos aren’t good enough, you just need to spend more money on a better camera or lens. This is nonsense. People have been creating amazing photography for decades on cameras that don’t even come close to today’s entry-level mirrorless cameras.
If you’re not happy with the images, the problem is, more than likely, your doing. Learning from our mistakes is how we improve and ultimately produce better images. Embrace your mistakes, learn to love them, and figure out what you’d do in order to correct them next time so they don’t come up in the first place.
Finding out what you don’t like and what not to do is just as important as knowing what you do like and what you should keep doing. Knowing how your camera works and what everything means is also very important.
[ad_2]
