This Photography Trap Is Holding You Back

Do you remember when you first started photography? You started because you enjoyed just taking photos and not thinking about it too much. You started because you wanted to capture memories for the future. You started because you wanted to try something creative. However as time went on you started to dive deeper and deeper into this craft. Before you know it, you were spending hours on YouTube watching editing tutorials. Hours on forums seeing if upgrading to full frame is really worth it. Even more hours on social media wondering why your photos are not as good as everyone else’s.

Photography can be a very complicated topic if you allow it to be. It can be very technical yet abstract. Spend too much time going down one rabbit hole and you could end up feeling drained and confused. Photography can also be frustrating because no one is right and no one is wrong. It’s an art form and nothing is black and white.

If you look at gear, you can spend hours fussing over the perfect camera settings. If you look at photography itself, you can spend years fussing over what is the best composition or what is a good subject. If you look at editing, then you can spend decades on the best sharpening techniques let alone anything else.

Now there is a clear benefit of going down all these rabbit holes however equally it can also leave us exhausted, confused and even bored. Not to mention that by focusing all of our attention on these tiny details, we can often miss the bigger picture. Because in reality, we will not become better photographers by knowing Lightroom inside out. We will not become better photographers by owning 50 different lenses, one for each unique scenario. Nor will we become better photographers by being able to recall the exact camera settings for every scenario.

We will become better photographers by getting out of the weeds and just putting in the work. We will become better by spending 8 hours walking round the city looking for photos. By waking up early to catch the morning light. By walking home from work with your camera vs taking the tube. By travelling to interesting and new locations. By making mental notes of all the shots you missed. By looking at your photos from the day and spotting mistakes or improvements. By simply putting in the very basic work that is required to progress.

So if you want to improve, now and again get out of the weeds, and just focus on the basics. Grab your camera and go for a walk.