A photography question...

[cp_ste.croix]

Assuming that people here are like me and don't always get the picture they envisioned in their head, if at all, I have a question:

What is the greatest impediment to your photography? Are problems more technically oriented, personality oriented (a la street ninjas in training), or are there reasons which are extraneous to the act of photography (time, money, etc).

I am interested in the compromises people make as well as what they feel helps them to actually achieve their vision when it does happen.

Just something that I have been pondering for a while...

Chris

 

[rover]

Speaking for myself, I lack any amount of real raw talent. I am by no means an artist, and I think that generally shows in my photography. (You guys only get to see the good stuff I do) Part of it is the ability to concentrate, to see what I am seeing and how to see it. I get in the zone sometimes and make some good images, but if my mind isn't really dedicated to my photography, I don't have the talent to just make it happen easily. I need things to slow down for me.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Application. I don't shoot ENOUGH.

Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com)

 

[canonetc]

I'd say my greatest impediment is obsessing about photo (thinking about it a bit too much) and fighting off the desire to want to be a "successful" photographer. What is "successful" anyway? Front page of Newsweek? A gallery exhibit? A book? Perhaps Successful is a term that does not apply when you love what you do, or applies very well whether or not money or social recognition is involved.

cheers from another chris

canonetc

 

[dmr]

What is the greatest impediment to your photography?

Procrastination! I'll have an idea of what to shoot and how to shoot it, but never just go out and shoot it. Always seems like so many other things come up.

There's a lighthouse just a couple exits up that I've thought about shooting for over a year now (yes, a lighthouse Somewhere In Middle America) but I've never just gone out there and done it. I've thought about the angle of the sun, the shadows, the background angles, but just never driven out there to do it. 🙁

"I always wanted to procrastinate, but I never really got around to it." 🙂

Are problems more technically oriented, personality oriented (a la street ninjas in training), or are there reasons which are extraneous to the act of photography (time, money, etc).

Money, of course. 🙂 Like I don't have the resources to go every place I want to shoot. I also have work and a social life. 🙂

 

[BJ Bignell]

Personality problems, definitely. I often feel that when I'm out shooting, working on a project, people are overly concious of what I'm doing, watching me, judging me... I'm not a street ninja in training, but just someone who's not yet entirely comfortable being in the city. Some days, I just force myself outside and start shooting. Other days, I can't overcome it. However, when I do the touristy thing (snapshots, etc) I could care less what people think. "Just because I'm paranoid, that doesn't mean they're not out to get me." 😀

I have enough money to do it the way I want to, and usually I have enough time to enjoy it. Whether or not I have talent, I could care less: I like doing it! 🙂

 

[FrankS]

For me the greatest impediment to my photography are the real-life "distractions" like my job and my family, not that I'd want to be rid of my family, but they both (job and family) rightfully require most of my time and energy, leaving just a bit left over for this hobby of mine. If I could devote more time and energy towards photography, I could be better.

 

[stet]

Application. I don't shoot ENOUGH.

Man, I hear that. and I'm new to this game, too. Sometimes i just find myself obsessing over how something's is OK, but not good enough, and 1. forgetting that film is cheap, 2. that everything can be a lesson, and 3. I won't be able to re-create the conditions, so I might as well just snap and learn.

I really admire the main photographer at the daily here, Benjamin Krain at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, who's won tons of NPPA awards. I heard him speak at the arts center where I take a photo class, and he said that if there's anything he could change about learning, it's shooting more. I try to keep in mind that and my teacher saying that everything is a lesson.

as an aside/"disclaimer" 🙄 : I now work part-time at the Democrat-Gazette. I see Ben all the time, but have yet to speak to him. How's that for hesitation?

 

[peter_n]

Time. As in not enough spare. If I had more time to shoot I would definitely improve. I console myself with the fact that its just a hobby...

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Stet,

Everything can be a lesson... You can't re-create the conditions.

AMEN! If you don't play, you can't win.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[kbg32]

Since my work is not very commercial, I do make income on it - stock, assignment, and exhibition sales, it invariably is not enough, so must have a full time job as well. Ho-hum.........

Thus the camera goes with me everywhere.

 

[WDG]

There's a lighthouse just a couple exits up that I've thought about shooting for over a year now (yes, a lighthouse Somewhere In Middle America) but I've never just gone out there and done it. I've thought about the angle of the sun, the shadows, the background angles, but just never driven out there to do it.

The one between Lincoln & Omaha?

 

[dmr]

The one between Lincoln & Omaha?

Uh-huh. That's it, almost exactly midpoint. LINOMA, a beach and a kind of roadhouse restaurant that's usually good. I take it you know of it? 🙂

 

[RML]

Money, time, talent and (the worse factor) often too obsessed with getting it perfetly right. Since perfection doesn't exist, and if it does than it's probably boring as hell, I keep trying the same thing over and over again without ever getting it right. That is, until somehow somewhere I see the light (read an article, see an example, learn something new about composition like from the rawworkflow website that Sean Reid mentioned a few times).

 

[DaveP]

PATIENCE! I tend to blow off the rest of the roll on anything just to hurry up and see what ive done.......................need any pictures of statues or ducks??

 

[dmr]

PATIENCE! I tend to blow off the rest of the roll on anything just to hurry up and see what ive done..

If it's something I want now, I'll just rewind the roll where it is and take it into Wally World 1-hour. LOL! Sometimes the person there will say something like "about 1/2 of these didn't come out." 🙂

.....................need any pictures of statues or ducks??

How about the inside of the closet with the light out? 🙂

 

[WDG]

Uh-huh. That's it, almost exactly midpoint. LINOMA, a beach and a kind of roadhouse restaurant that's usually good. I take it you know of it? 🙂

I was born & raised in South Central Nebraska. We occaisionally made the trip to Omaha, and I was always fascinated by the lighthouse, though I never did get close to it. I always thought I ought to photograph it. the Sapp Brothers water tower was cool, too. Is it still there?

 

[GermanB]

For me it is personality .... which leads to procrastination. Sometimes I see something worth photographing but worried about all those eyes on me, finally I think "next time I'll do it", lately I've been improving and push myself to go out and shoot and it works !!!

 

[Natalia]

What is the greatest impediment to your photography?

inspiration, I guess, for me. And time......

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Like Frank... work and other things. If the world were as I wish, I'd go out a lot more.

Meaning, travel. For some reason, I can photograph everything when I travel abroad. I feel suddenly free of restrictions and inhibitions. It's as if I were wearing the "tourist" cloak and I don't give a dingy ding about what people may think or say. Adrenaline rushes high, the creativity juices flow unimpeded, the light is on my side and everything looks sublime.

So... I just don't travel enough. Shoot? Sure, I do a lot of crappy stuff but then, I have fun while doing it.