having a little trouble here as a new photographer, sort of a depression of sorts...

[Gary Briggs]

these are some of the most interesting responses i have ever seen on rff.
I agree with pvdhaar, peoples faces (I think b/w is best) are never boring, and you don't have to feel you are an 'artist' to enjoy them (and w/others).

 

[oftheherd]

...

Emulating an artist to learn how to take better photos will eventually evolve into your own unique style, it can't help but to. Accidentally mirroring another photographer means nothing more than you are at that moment in time on a similar path. It's kinda like walking down the sidewalk and turning left. The other might turn right but you both started out going straight and it's okay to see the same or similar things.


...

Making photos similar to what you have seen, but with your own particular style is fine.

And if you don't like what you get when you try, look for the differences. Try to recognize them, and then try to correct them. You will get better and define your style more and more.

Enjoy.

 

[The Meaness]

You will always be at a loss if you concentrate on measuring up to an invisible standard. Adams was not standing where you stood in that suburb. What you see today is unique, and there is a unique way to capture it. If you create an invisible ladder in your head you must climb to be "relevant" then you'll miss the obvious.

I don't think I ever pulled off a decent shot while thinking "will this measure up to _____?" I'm also sure my work is easy for more talented people to look down on. At the end of the day, I can still get caught up in the moment, find excitement/interest/humor/passion in the frame, and make something that has a chance at passable (but very exciting to me). Afterward I get critical and ask the hard questions, how should I have changed this? Was it worth a frame?

Be critical after you take the shot, not before.

 

[Roger Hicks]

You will always be at a loss if you concentrate on measuring up to an invisible standard. Adams was not standing where you stood in that suburb. What you see today is unique, and there is a unique way to capture it. If you create an invisible ladder in your head you must climb to be "relevant" then you'll miss the obvious.

I don't think I ever pulled off a decent shot while thinking "will this measure up to _____?" I'm also sure my work is easy for more talented people to look down on. At the end of the day, I can still get caught up in the moment, find excitement/interest/humor/passion in the frame, and make something that has a chance at passable (but very exciting to me). Afterward I get critical and ask the hard questions, how should I have changed this? Was it worth a frame?

Be critical after you take the shot, not before.

Brilliant! I'll steal that one!

Cheers,

R.

 

[jippiejee]

I like to think of all the elements in a photograph as words. Yes, they've all been spoken before, or printed. Even today. Yet new poetry can be written every day.

 

[kbg32]

I had a teacher many years ago say - "think of depression, as digestion of your highs". It has always helped me.

BTW, quite possibly your depression might be related to something else. Photography in and of itsef, should not make you depressed. It never hurts to talk to someone.... meaning a therapist.

 

[d_ross]

Anyone feeling this way about photography, assuming of course that photography is the right medium for their personal expression, should read the book, 'The ongoing moment' by Geoff Dyer! in fact anyone with an interest in photography should read it if they haven't done so already.

 

[d_ross]

It is an outsiders look at photography, as Dyer says he never takes photographs.

I think the book is interesting because discusses how all photographers are to some degree the same person, that we are all attracted to the same things, or very similar things, hence the title of the book. So perhaps anyone suffering the feeling that this has been done so why should I do it, should benefit by seeing the time line that created so many great images, and the understanding that whilst it may have been done before, every doing of it is part of the history of the medium. I think it's worth persevering with!

 

[Teuthida]

Find subjects that mean something to you... and avoid the picturesque. You'll be fine.

 

[Hjortsberg]

Anyone feeling this way about photography, assuming of course that photography is the right medium for their personal expression, should read the book, 'The ongoing moment' by Geoff Dyer! in fact anyone with an interest in photography should read it if they haven't done so already.

thanks for alerting me to this book. going to order it tommorrow

 

[Rob-F]

I think it is best to not compare ourselves to others. The right comparison is to oneself. I work to be a little better each day than I was the day before. And just as no one bothers to try writing another Beethoven symphony or paint another Monet water lilies triptych (because they have already been done), there is no point in taking another Eggleston picture. You have your own style, even if you don't yet know what it is, and even if it's not fully evolved yet. So I think you should work in your own unique way.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

This Is A Great Thread!

This Is A Great Thread!

This thread represents what I come to RFF for. Thanks to everyone that contribute ideas to RFF that inspire! 🙂

 

[d_ross]

thanks for alerting me to this book. going to order it tommorrow

I think you will enjoy it, I have read it in it's entirety a few times now, and often refer back to parts of it.

it is one of a number of books I constantly refer to for both inspiration and understanding, another really good book in this respect is the small

"Magnum Landscape" ISBN 0-7148-3642-7

This is a book full of the very best of the types of pictures we all take, whether full time artist's or holiday snap makers. I often take this book with me on trips away, it's small size but packed full of great stuff.

 

[Richard G]

Geoff Dyer's book is quite absorbing. I read his wonderful riff on jazz first, 'But Beautiful', and loved that, especially the section on Thelonius Monk. Dyer has almost too fertile a mind and I could see how some would find his speculative streak irritating, but his exhaustive insights into some individual pictures is often impressive. Whether the book would be an antidote to melancholy I am not so sure.

 

[Muller]

Interesting. I've gone through the the same thoughts as well now and then, or that my photos (style, technique, subject, whatever) aren't good enough. But then, I'm not sure I want to be compared to the "masters"; HCB, Adams, Maplethorpe, Yeager, etc. I'm not any of them, and I don't want my photos to be mistaken as theirs.

Recently I looked at an exhibit of Limb Eung-sik's photography at the MoCA, Korea. Before that feeling started coming over me, I reminded myself there's no way I can ever get photos like he did; the destruction and rebuilding of Seoul and Inchon during and after the Korean War, portraits various celebrities from the 60's to the 80's. It was his street shooting in and around one of the districts in Seoul where I noticed something, that I was looking at not just the subjects in the photos, but at how he was shooting them. And seeing the same things I do for a shot. Which ones he was moving when he took them, hip shots, when he was shooting at eye level before moving on, and the ones he took surreptitiously of a couple at coffee shop seated at a table across from him.

So without even knowing it before, apparently I'm as good as one of the greats. Get out and shoot.

 

[Alfasud]

Pictures Grow on You

Pictures Grow on You

When I pick up a newly developed role of film, or download a digital shoot, I often feel 'what a waste of time and money' I put them aside, go back a week or a month later, and usually find one or two that I think have some merit. I've been taking pictures for 50 years. It still happens!

Give it a try.

 

[burancap]

When I pick up a newly developed role of film, or download a digital shoot, I often feel 'what a waste of time and money' I put them aside, go back a week or a month later, and usually find one or two that I think have some merit.

I often (almost always) feel the same way and started to do the "pause" with my 120 film, but to an even greater extreme.

I will let the exposed rolls pile up for a few months then send them off in bulk for processing.

No idea what is coming back but for a faint, foggy recollection. The results, good or bad, always lead to surprises and that is rewarding by itself!

 

[Messsucherkamera]

I would highly recommend The Passionate Photographer which can be purchased from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Passionate-Ph...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327984954&sr=1-1

Also, keep in mind the words of the great master Vincent Van Gogh:

"The thing has already taken form in my mind before I start it. The first attempts are absolutely unbearable. I say this because I want you to know that if you see something worthwhile in what I am doing, it is not by accident but because of real direction and purpose."

Even Van Gogh disliked his own work sometimes.

But when he thought his work sucked, he did not give up. He didn't say, "What's the use? Why bother? Someone else has already painted this subject." He worked even harder at honing his eye and perfecting his craft. The results of his dedication and passion are recorded in the annals of history.

More recently, a contemporary photographer named Zack Arais said:

"Some of you suck and you really need some help. Your camera doesn't have a Richard Avedon button on it, does it? Well, Avedon sucked, Karsh sucked, Adams sucked, Mary Ellen sucked, Cowart sucked, Jarvis sucked...every photographer in all of history was a horrible photographer for some period of time. They learned, they grew, they had dark days, they persevered. That is the way of the artist. Just be patient, keep on going...."

There is no such thing as "natural talent" in the world of photography. There is only passionate perseverance and relentless focus.

Take 5:51 out of your day to watch this video titled "How badly do you want to improve your photography?" It is outstanding: http://www.petapixel.com/?s=how+bad+do+you+want+to+improve+your+photography?

 

[taskoni]

Similar picture can be taken many times from many different photographers and still will be different. Shoot and don't worry about it

 

[Haigh]

I don't know if this is might help:

“If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”
― Vincent van Gogh

In your case you are no beginner but I guess it means just keep going. I find digital helps as you can snap away at what you like with no film wasted. It might be an idea not to look at other photographer's work. When I was young and just starting I saw a Bill Brandt nude and thought I should never take a nude. Well, I do and they are different from his.
Keep on clicking and have fun.