Maybe I'm not too clear. I'll always remember what one of my design teachers told me: “You can't break the rules if you don't know and understand them.”
I think that was covered in one of the other responses - know your equipment, and understand the basics of photography.
In other words, learn the 'rules' about photography - but that has nothing to do with your personal 'vision'.
Forgive me, but I am co-mingling your term 'vision' with another I read about all the time, which is 'style'. Everyone seems to want to know how they create or find their own, unique, identifiable style. Although there are plenty of answers offered by others, the range of answers leads me to believe that no one really knows, any more than I do. I don't even know what the heck 'style' or 'vision' are, exactly.
Take photos. Stop worrying.
I have been very disappointed with my photographic performance lately.
That's good. Complacency is not your friend when it comes to your creative output.
I found myself in several moments where I felt the opportunity for great photography to be present but failed miserably to grasp the essence of the moment.
In other words, you saw something that should have resulted in a great photo, but instead, the photo sucked.
Welcome to the club. That is going to happen - always. And sometimes you'll get great shots out of ho-hum moments. Life's funny that way.
Stop trying and start doing. Don't try to take great photos - just take photos.
The best thing I ever did for my photography was to stop worrying about it. Looking back now, some of my best photographs were taken spur-of-the-moment with substandard equipment or a complete grab-shot with no regard for composition, focus, exposure, or anything else. Some of my best shots were taken when I had very little idea what I was doing with a camera. And some of them were taken more recently, when I knew a bit more about how my camera works and how I work. Some of them are good because I tried to make them good, and some of them are good for no reason that I can pin down. Some people like photos of mine that I think suck, and the work I'm most pleased with, no one seems to like at all.
Some of my favorite photos were taken by amateurs who don't know an f-stop from a g-string. Some were taken by people who are so technically careful and precise, it makes my hair hurt to watch them take photos. Some were taken by people who just seem to 'have the eye' and some were taken by people who 'got lucky'.
And so what?
I heard about a book recently about famous people. People who are famous guitarists, painters, writers, and so on. Know what they all have in common? Massive, massive, massive, practice. Tens of thousands of hours. So I humbly suggest that you put the books down and go take photos. Do it for a decade and THEN ask yourself where your 'vision' is.
Now, the sad part of all this, is that my observation has been that people in desperate search of their 'style' or 'vision' never accept advice like this as being valid. They simply continue on in their endless search for a book or some advice or a secret method that will give them that insight that only comes - if it comes at all - by not trying to find it. I'm sorry, I wish you well, but in my experience, unless you give up the search, you won't get what you want.
