You Are A Good Enough Photographer
Let's get one thing straight right out of the gate with this post. You are good enough and you do not need to impress anyone but yourself. For many many years, I came from a place of lack and felt as if I was not good enough to be where I was. Call it imposter syndrome if you must, I felt like I was just waiting for the moment everyone would figure out that I was this crappy photographer who had no real experience.
My first job was in sports product photography and social media. I was still working on my 4-year degree in communications when I started applying for jobs all across the country. They had me do a test to see if my photoshop skills were up to par by shooting a pair of shoes and removing them from their background and placing them on a pure white background. I said "Sure I can do that, no problem" as I was googling just how in the world I was going to pull this off. Oddly I passed the test with the tutorial photos I produced and they hired me. I felt so out of league I had no idea what I was going to do. I remember tracing out some of the first shoes with the magic lasso tool in photoshop feeling like an utter moron.
The important lesson here is to understand that this is how we learn, grow and mature in our professions. No one knows what they are doing they are just throwing shit at a wall till something sticks following one good feeling or idea after another till we eventually crash and burn and need to reset. I still follow this process to this day, its how I have developed my style and refined every part of my photography. Years after I moved on past my product photography days and moved into big-time advertising work I felt even worse about my photography.
Now it wasn't simply about taking pictures till someone with a bigger paycheck than me said: "that's good". No, now I was responsible for everything and had to present all this to clients and boards for review. It was awful, still feeling like an imposter I would constantly make up reasons for why this was the right photo for the project. When I shot my first magazine cover my boss told me he hated it and that I had let him down. I would come to realize this was complete bullshit as he had no idea what he was talking about and was mixing his personal feelings and taste with objectivity.
What I was failing to realize was that what people wanted from me was my opinion about why I loved my photography and what story it told. When I constantly felt like I was just clicking shots away I Was missing what was most important about my work, what I loved about it. When I look back at some of the covers that I have shot the reason I like them is because of the tension and emotion they create. A lot of my early work was in tourism and involved people set against large mountain landscapes. What I love about these photos is the scale they created with the subjects set against colorful, textured and dramatic backdrops. But because I Was new and still feeling like I had something to prove to those that were my senior I would constantly feel inadequate.
Understand that you need to get straight on the reasons you love what you do. It can be as simple as the color you create or the shapes you love to see people form. Whatever that spark is you need to know that you are responsible for your happiness and success as a photographer. Looking for others to tell you why your photos are good or why your editing is enough is a terrible way to go about it. I was constantly told my photos where too colorful or had too much contrast. I listened to those voices for so long and in the end, lost my own when it came to my photography.
Impress yourself, strive to fulfill whatever it is that little voice in your head wants you to do. That can be to shoot a specific scene, frame water a certain way or capture the intimate moments of a couples young love. Just get serious on what it is you love about your work and what inspires you to continue growing. Let the critics talk and have their voice on the internet, it's only because of their own insecurity they say these things. Be your own biggest fan and find your tribe of people that lift you up and inspire you to keep going. Fail hard and often but make sure you keep trying. We all do it, even the most seasoned veterans of the art take terrible photos that do not work.
