Photography can be frustrating at the best of times. But it’s even more frustrating when we feel as though we’re not making any progress.
For many of us, a large part of the appeal of photography is mastering something so challenging. Much of the satisfaction comes from getting better. From looking back and recognising how far we’ve come.
But sometimes, we look back and realise we haven’t come very far at all. At least not recently.
Our photography has stagnated. We’re no longer improving at the rate we’ve become accustomed to. Perhaps we’ve reached the limits of our talent.
But what if talent has nothing to do with it?
The Law of Diminishing Returns
When we first pick up a camera, we quickly discover that photography is far more challenging than we anticipated.
Determined to master our new passion, we read every book we can lay our hands on, watch countless hours of YouTube and perhaps even splash our hard-earned cash on a workshop or two.
Those early efforts are quickly rewarded. Within a relatively short space of time, we’re producing photos that impress our friends and family. And it feels good.
But sooner or later we slam headfirst into the law of diminishing returns.
The improvements become smaller and harder won. Achieving the same level of progress seems to require twice the effort.
And all of a sudden, that effort doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere.
Worth Caring About?
When this happens, it’s easy to believe we’ve reached the limits of our talent. But it is far more likely that we’ve actually reached the limits of our ambition.
None of us sets out to be the next Ansel Adams. Mostly, we want to learn to take better photos than the average Joe. And once we’ve achieved that, where do we go from there?
What we need is a new goal. Something new to care about.
Something that sparks our imagination, fuels our curiosity and motivates us to put in the effort necessary to tell the stories we now feel compelled to share.
Because the more we care about what we have to say, the harder we’re prepared to work at it.
More Than a Photographer
Forgive the cliché, but photography is a marathon, not a sprint.
Once we understand the basics of narrative, composition and light, mastering photography is largely a matter of perseverance. We simply need to give ourselves enough time to become great.
But more than that. We need a reason to become great.
In that respect, maintaining our motivation to keep taking photographs should eventually become our highest priority. And when we find something we genuinely care about, motivation is no longer something we have to chase.
Because when we care enough, photography stops being something we do and becomes something we are.
When our photography stops improving, it’s easy to believe we’ve reached the limits of our talent.
But perhaps we’ve simply lost the motivation to keep pushing ourselves.
When we find something worth caring about, we find a reason to put in the effort necessary to improve.
Because the more we care, the harder we try. And the harder we try, the better we become.
Leave a Reply