What helped you grow the most?

What helped you grow the most?

  • Class (taking or teaching)

    Votes: 68 13.9%

  • Having a mentor

    Votes: 51 10.4%

  • Belonging to a photography club

    Votes: 17 3.5%

  • Reading books/magazines

    Votes: 123 25.1%

  • The internet/Participating in a forum (RFF)

    Votes: 133 27.1%

  • Working on a project

    Votes: 77 15.7%

  • Trial & Error (& reflection)

    Votes: 286 58.4%

  • Viewing artwork

    Votes: 152 31.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 54 11.0%
  • Total voters
    490
Ken Rockwell 🙂

Haha, I'm joking.

A few things helped me grow:

- Getting a film camera with a 50/1.4 lens. It was a quantum leap beyond the digital P&S I had before, and the fixed focal length forced me to learn composition.

- Understanding that I have to make an effort to seek out photographic opportunities, even if that means leaving the comfort of my couch.

- Scrutinizing my own pictures to try to figure out why they suck, and what I could have done (if anything) to make them suck less.

- Taking thousands of pictures, and trying not to repeat myself. Taking lots of pictures got the cliches out of my system, then I could move on to better stuff.
 
The internet got me started, but I would say reading books helped me the most. Through the books I learned the functions of the camera and an idea of aesthetics, from there I was able there to experiment more through trial and error.
 
The transition to digital. Suddenly a whole new world of post processing became a possibility. It was something I never had before as it required a whole set of difficult skills and a dedicated photo laboratory to achieve. Now it was available at my desk in a PC. This energized me to take more photos and to experiment.
 
having a good editor.

i read somewhere that the difference between a good photographer and a poor one is his editor.

a good editor will tell you which shots on your contact sheet to print and which prints to work on. they will encourage you when you are convinced that all your shots are crap and it's time to sell all your gear and take on another hobby.
 
I picked Class (my dear friend is the director of the photo program at my school (where I teach chemistry), and thus is extra hard on me), Working on a Project (I have only recently begun placing all of my photography into series') and Viewing Artwork (which I have done since before I could speak.)

Of course it is internet fora which has had the largest influence on me, but the question was about growth, not de-evolution.
 
A friend telling me to crop more things out of my pictures (now I try to show as little as possible without them being just patterns/textures and I'm loving it)

The realization that when things come to me easily (certain pictures do), it does not mean that they are bad or of bad quality or in any way inferior to the shots I have to work hard for.
 
I learned the most from shooting digital! Being able to instantly see what the results of changing your settings are is a great help.

But, RFF closely follows behind. Once I got into RF photography, I learned about parallax, hyperfocal focusing, film characteristics, OOF areas and how to guestimate their appearance when shooting, B&W film developing with Rodinal 1:100, etc, etc. Learned all of that from you guys and girls here,

Thank you all!
 
back alley said:
having a good editor.

i read somewhere that the difference between a good photographer and a poor one is his editor.

a good editor will tell you which shots on your contact sheet to print and which prints to work on. they will encourage you when you are convinced that all your shots are crap and it's time to sell all your gear and take on another hobby.
Click to expand...

I'll drink to that, it's leaving stuff out that's the real skill.

Same with text, it's only when I got the corrected version back from the editor that I realise just what rubbish I'd written in the first place.
 
_mark__ said:
Alas, digital.
Click to expand...

I agree, on the technical side, I found digital cameras with decent manual controls very helpful for learning the basics of composition and exposure. I tended to use them intermixed with my film cameras, but at the moment I am more strongly oriented towards film, as I really enjoy the darkroom process of film development.

Apart from that, taking pictures and evaluating my own work within the context of other works is very helpful.

Visiting exhibitions and not only photo exhibitions is an activity that helps me to get an understanding for where I stand. I think, that context and feedback, be it from yourself or others, are very important.
 
Steart McBride sayeth, "...it's only when I got the corrected version back from the editor that I realise just what rubbish I'd written in the first place. "

To which I can only add, 'Amen.'

__________________
 
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RFF and other forums in the UK. Members who live in my neck of the woods ; Stewart , Bob , Paul and Noel . Learnt more from them in twelve months than I have in thirty years. Local camera club....zero.
 
As hard as I worked on my own taking classes helped me get to where I am much faster than I would have otherwise. Now that I teach private classes I can see how having some guidance can really improve a photographer's work...
 
Polaroid. It was my best teacher. Nothing like pealing a 4x5 or 8x10 to find out the exposure is wrong. At $3 or $10 you learn really fast in those days ... I think digital has actually slowed the "craft" of photography. There's no commitment & loss for not thinking first, just Click, click, click ....
 
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Clubs

Clubs

What's truly amazing is how few RFFers have been aided by a photo club. This confirms my experience - after a few visits to the local club I stopped going as it was anything but helpful - usually 1 or 2 loudmouths holding court. Classes, books, museum shows and lots shooting for me.
 
For me it was three things:two college courses in photography; having a B&W darkroom; and shooting, developing and printing on a manic scale.

Use to spend whole weekends printing where I went through new box of 100 8X10 in a night.

Recently developed 12 rolls of film on a Sunday.

Calzone
 
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