Six Harsh Photography Truths
The good thing about getting older and more experienced is that you pick up valuable lessons on the way that not only help you further down the road but also stop you over thinking and digging a deeper mental hole when things don’t go to plan. In this blog I will share with you six harsh photography truths that I learned through years of experience. I hope that these reminders will help you not get too down when inevitably you will face the same on your journey.
Everything Takes Longer Than You Think
Everything will take longer than you think. Sometimes 50% longer, other times twice as long. Whether your goal is to get better at photography, learn a new technique, build an online audience, make money through this craft or publish your first zine. Everything will take longer than you hoped. This is usually for three reasons.
First of all due to lack of experience we can over estimate how quickly we can do something. A good example is when I was making my camera guides. I gave myself a couple months and thought it was easy. They took 5 months.
The second reason is that life happens. You can have the best plan in the world until something unexpected happens. I think Mike Tyson said something on the lines of “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”. Unexpected life events happen which can slow down and derail your progress.
Finally as you pick up something new, you can quickly realise that the project or topic is way deeper and more complex. What you thought was a simple and quick endeavour, actually turned out anything but. This can be a good thing and be even more rewarding than originally thought.
If you’re going through this now, simply focus on small consistent steps.
You Will Lose Creativity & Motivation
I make my living from photography yet there are plenty of times when I don’t even want to touch my camera for days on end. Equally there are plenty of times when I head out to shoot but come back empty handed or with a memory card full of rubbish. Creativity and motivation come and go. They are not constant nor should you treat them as a never ending resource that does not need room to relax. Think of them like physical muscles. If you were hitting the gym 7 days a week, sooner or later you will physically feel shit and not even want to leave your bed. Your creativity and motivation are no different. Without proper rest or care sooner or later they will become deflated.
With that in mind, next time you’re going through periods where you either don’t feel like shooting or you can’t seem to see anything, just recognise that it’s completely normal and usually a sign that you need rest and time away from the camera. In my opinion the best way to overcome this, is to take a break and focus on your health. Get to the gym, go for a run, cycle, hike or do anything physical.
You Will Miss Your Best Shot
For one reason or another you will miss your best shot. It could be a technical error, user error or simply bad timing. You will miss focus or have the wrong exposure. You will be about to take your best shot and the camera will die. You will be about to finally frame someone while birds are flying by and a truck will drive past and ruin it all. Make sure you’re prepared for when this happens and when it does, either learn from it, or accept that you can’t control all the moving pieces in the world and that is part of photography.
Someone Worse Than You Will Be More Successful
This will be a bitter pill to swallow for many people. You only need to take a look at a popular photographer’s comments section to see irritated people leaving bitter comments. It doesn’t matter how you define success. It could be follower count, how much money a photographer makes, their lifestyle, the jobs they get or the doors that are opened to them. Either way you will come across someone who you perceive to be worse than you yet be more successful.
Unfortunately that’s just the reality of life. People get lucky breaks, people get introduced to someone who knows someone who opens a door and people simply end up in the right place at the right time. Equally people can be below average photographers in terms of talent. Yet through sheer hard work they will get ahead of the lazy talented photographer. Finally there is something to be said for business acumen and marketing. They will not help you if you truly suck. However if you’re just about good enough, they can be the push that you need. So rather than hating on others and crying how unfair it is, get back to work.
You Will Waste Money
This is probably the most familiar one to most of us. You will lose money. You will buy dumb shit. You will impulse buy a lens that you know you don’t need. You will regret a purchase 1 hour after you buy it. You will buy something, use it once and forget it. My advice is learn from your mistakes and know that as you become more experienced, this careless spending of money will slow down. I also suggest looking into the concept of minimalism. It will really change your life.
You Will Waste Time
Wasting money can be bad but it’s not terrible as you can always make it back. However wasting time is 1000000 times worse as you can never get it back. Unfortunately you will waste time with photography. You will wake up for sunrise, skip on other more social plans, head into town hoping for a foggy sunrise and get nothing. I lost count how many times I did that. You will spend hours trying a new technique only to learn you were doing it wrong. You will go out without a memory card. You will accidentally format a memory card. You will feel like you’re pouring your time into photography yet getting nowhere. The fact is that all of this is normal and part of the process. Without getting out of bed and risking wasting a morning, you will never catch the foggy days. Without trial and error, you will never learn. Without making mistakes you will never know what habits you need to change in order to avoid them when it matters. It might seem like you’re wasting time, but in fact you’re not. You’re gaining experience and learning.