who here thinks that they are a good photographer...

[LCSmith]

I still remember she always insisted on the fact we have to believe in our own work.

If we are the first not to believe in what we do we'll never make progress in what we do, we'll never reach what we are aiming to.

This is absolutely correct and borne out by countless examples in all the disciplines. Successful people envision their success and go after it.

The phrasing of the original question -- "Who here thinks that they are a good photographer?" -- is important to the conversation. The question is not "Who is a good photographer?" but "Who thinks that they are?".

So the question isn't really about photography. It is about how we view ourselves.

 

[Bolo Kukus]

All this is known as The Figjam Syndrome. Modesty and good manners forbid me to define this in exact terms, but at least I can tell you that the last three letters stand for "just ask me".

Modesty and proper manners aside, I know I'm good - my clients tell me so by buying my images. Which tells me I am, even if what I think I really am is a hack who has somehow made it to the top of the hack-pile.

(Noted that like many others, I also have yet to post any photos. So there...)

Since the '80s I've earned reasonable money, more so then than now with the promiscuous profusion of digicrap images on the internet, from my stock shooting, mostly of architecture and Asian cultures. Sadly, the oncoming of the global apocalypse and ever declining media markets have badly dented my traditional sales in the last decade, but I manage to get just enough work sold every year to strengthen my self-image as a good photographer. Which is okay enough for me.

We live in fast-changing times and now in my early seventies I find myself scanning a lot of my early work and marveling at not only how much better I was than I thought I was in those days, but how much my photography has tended to repeat itself in familiar patterns and how my images have tended to stultify and even fossilize to an extent, since 1991 when I finally became respectable and propelled myself upward into a profession (architecture).

Of course these days architecture as a business means almost as little as photography as a career - so in essence I feel my life has been more or less a rotating wheel and I've basically returned to where I started off in life as a TLR shooter in my early teens - trying to make the best possible images from the insanity I saw and still see all around me out there in the real world. I do the best I can and I try to put something of myself into all the images I make. As for whether or not others see this or even like my work, well, figjam to you all.

It's all fun and I've enjoyed it, which in the summing up, is what it's all about anyway, isn't it?

(As for "good in bed", well, I don't know. Modesty again. Cannot recall any complaints. Written testimonials will be submitted if formally requested.)

 

[Bill Clark]

I’m getting better with people photography.

I finally made a photograph of my wife that she likes.

 

[icebear]

and what makes you think that?

Yes I am. 😎
Because I am critical of my work and with some images I am really pleased.😀
A lot of stuff is for a very limited audience and won't tell anything or won't speak to most people.
A few get it and like it. That's enough for me.

 

[jsrockit]

All I can say is that I am happy with my photography. If it is good or not is up to the person viewing it (when I'm lucky enough to have someone's attention).

 

[Darthfeeble]

I am a "good" photographer, I take pictures regularly and with care and concern. I'm far from a great photographer, but I love what I do.

 

[Bob Michaels]

All I can say is that I am happy with my photography. If it is good or not is up to the person viewing it .....

This statement is logical to my way of thinking.

 

[DwF]

My mother says I am (bless her heart)! I'll leave it there...

David

 

[sooner]

In my case the question should be just how bad a photographer are you. I'm a gear head who lacks that artistic eye; I'm still trying to remember to snap a pic without the power lines in the background. One standard is whether strangers like or even buy your photos. Why I keep shooting is because photos capture a moment in the life of people I care about, so to me they have great value, even if no one else feels the same.

 

[Emile de Leon]

I was told once that I was...but I didnt believe them...lol..

 

[ranger9]

This is absolutely correct and borne out by countless examples in all the disciplines. Successful people envision their success and go after it.

Successful != good. You can prove that with a visit to McDonald's or a screening of the most-viewed videos on Tiktok. ‘ Nuf said.

At a deeper level, many years of evaluating contemporary dance showcases taught me that the best choreographers almost always undervalued their own abilities. Ask the choreographer afterward about a brilliant work that brought the audience cheering to its feet and you'd get an uneasy response along the lines of, “Oh, I don't know, I'm pretty happy with X but I just feel I should have been able to do more with Y...”

On the other hand, choreographers who genuinely believed and were happy to announce that their latest work was a masterpiece: oh, brother, that was usually a good time to plan a restroom visit... See also “Dunning-Kruger Effect.”

 

[Bob Michaels]

"good" in the eyes of other photographers or the general public?

"good" in the eyes of other photographers or the general public?

As my comments here are commonly outliers here, I have no hesitancy to gore some sacred bulls. I do think we all must differentiate acceptance of our photography by other photographers as compared to the general public to be quite different. The two groups are distinct and look for different things to evaluate our work.

I sense that many here seek to have the photographic work accepted by other photographers. This is an easy market to reach by posting here or on places like flicker. The criteria for evaluation differs as it tends to be based much on technical.

Acceptance by the general public seems to be based on the emotion and informational value created by the final image with total ignorance of the technical beyond meeting some low bar standard. These are the people who do not care if the original capture was digital or film, much less who designed the lens you used. It is all in the final product to them.

Now reaching the general public is not easy. It requires a magnitude more of work developing contacts. Too much for some. I suspect some here do not have their work publicly viewed, not for lack of talent, but for lack of effort. And, some simply do not care. I have no problems with that.

Some want to do photography that people pay for, either paid assignments or print sales. Easy to determine if the work is good or not, the dollars keep score. Similar situation if you want to please yourself. Or, the same if you just want to play with old cameras. No problems, just different animals.

Personally, my target audience is the general public, not photographers. My goals are to inform, educate, sometimes influence opinion, and create documentary evidence. I do work in niche markets that I choose accepting that not all of the public has the areas of interest that I do. I have a pretty good idea how to hold their attention so I can inform, so I consider my work "good".

I do think it is important to understand which group, other photographers or the general public, you want to consider your work "good". You simply cannot figure out if you are winning or losing without knowing the score.

 

[Steveh]

Many of us here are good photographers. We've worked hard, read a lot, looked at lots of photographs and learnt lot more being here and seeing the discussions. The weekly Gallery Picks is amazing sometimes. A friend of mine, married to a poet, said that there are a thousand fine poets you'll never hear of. Photographer too most likely. Most of us like me are a few rungs down but know what we are doing. Some like Barnwulf now gone, Tigerphil, OurManInTangier, Steveh and many others are in the first row.

Thank you Richard - you're very kind! I literally popped in to RFF just now for the first time since (it says) January 2019, and this was the first thread I looked at - what a nice surprise to see my name 😀. Hope everyone is doing well.

To answer the question (if I still have standing here!), I think I have my moments, and a decent enough eye for what makes a good shot, but I have never spent the time or concentrated effort to get really "good", and I have never really tried to put together a coherent, thought through body of work. I've just been a gearhead and a dabbler really, and that upsets me a bit. I'm hoping there is still time left to go more deeply and do some things I'm really proud of, but that's partly out of my hands. The virus has certainly made me more focused on my own mortality, and that it's getting late.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I have been told by people that like the pictures I've taken of their cars that I'm a fairly good photographer. I still have a lot to learn.

 

[maddoc]

In the past I was maybe a good enough photographer to post my stuff online without feeling to much embarrassed. However, life changes and with it the possibilities and urge to take photos in the way as I did previously. So at the moment I am not a good photographer but somebody lurking around for new inspirations.

 

[lynnb]

I’m getting better with people photography.

I finally made a photograph of my wife that she likes.

Bill, my Wife Approval Rating went through the ceiling when I started to take pictures of her with Instax. I'm sure Fuji designed Instax cameras and film for that purpose!

 

[Muggins]

I found an application (just to confuse the USA-ians, cricket) where the action occurs at a predictable place and moment, and can be captured reliably on burst mode.

Having finally found something where the "throwing ordure at the wall" model of photography actually works, I can ay that I am quite a good photographer of that. 😀

Still rubbish at everything else, mind.

Adrian

 

[Michael Markey]

I take pictures of my friends horses .
They love their horses , ergo, they think that my pictures are good . 🙂
Don`t really give it a lot of thought , I just try and enjoy what I do .
They`re all going to end up on the tip (dump) when I`m gone anyway .

 

[davidnewtonguitars]

I can't even think of a clever way to answer.

 

[Damaso]

There's things like external validation: I've been published a lot and have had multiple exhibitions. But for me the real reason I think I'm a good photographer is that I know I used to be not such a good one. I can look back at my early work and see how I've grown. I can also see when I take a picture today and its bad. Or just average.

I can also appreciate the great work of other photographers...