Patience
Image of our daughters friend. We asked her a series of questions related to her summer, what she wants from high school and how she wants to be remembered when she dies. Questions like this made her think, share and gave us emotion that we would not have otherwise gotten if we just said “stand there and say cheese”. We had patience to get the perfect image.
Find any hobby you are interested in. It doesn’t matter what you pick. Photography, woodworking, writing, graphic design or even sports. Find something that interests you and begin doing some research. You will soon find articles and ads promoting “Five ways to instantly become better”, “Use these three tricks for instant results”, or “Buy this preset and never edit again”.
Every day we are bombarded with quick, get rich ideas. The problem though, is that after we read that article or make that purchase, we realize it didn’t fix anything. We are still in the same place we were before we started, we just wasted some time or our wallets are a little lighter because of it.
Think about the greats of your craft. Did Michael Jordan find 5 quick ways to get better at basketball? Did Ansel Adams find a new chemical to process his films that would give him quicker results? Did Michelangelo use a bigger, more advanced brush to paint the Sistine Chapel? I don’t with 100% truth know the answer to these question but my guess, would be no. They worked on their craft of YEARS. The learned all the ins and outs. They studied the work of others. They practiced, the failed, they practiced more.
As it relates to photography, we are bombarded with these “get rich quick” ads daily. One click presets, AI in photoshop that can change your background instantly. Did you know that Photoshop has always had this feature? It was a more manual process that required you to learn layers, but it was possible. Why all the sudden are we removing a background or a lamp post? We always had those abilities to do it. The only difference is we are sold on a feature that promises to do it faster, without thought or learning. Which by the way is really awesome and cool. The new Photoshop AI stuff is amazing and I am really glad to be alive during this time of technology. But the features were always there. We have been removing distractions from backgrounds for years. We learned the hard way and when the technology was not that great you either fixed it in camera or you spent the long time doing it manually. How many times have you heard a photographer say “It’s ok, I will fix it in post". Couldn’t you just move three feet to the left and not have to fix anything in post later?
Let’s talk about cameras for a second. Camera’s today are pretty much fool proof. Point your camera at a face and the camera will instantly focus on the eyes. Have your settings at mostly auto everything and you just click the button. Boom you have a perfectly sharp, properly exposed image. Oh no, the camera got the image too dark or too bright? No worries, we will fix it in post. Don’t know how to fix it in post? No worries, there is someone selling me something that will do it for me or I will try AI or when all else fails I will hop onto a photography group and ask others how to do it or even be willing to pay them to do it for me.
What happened to the time when we were patient? When we took the time to really learn our craft. When we experimented with different ideas. Heck, it is easier now because we don’t have to buy film. You can just format your SD card and start over. Literally no waiting.
By now you are probably reading this thinking, “dang, this guy is crazy and angry about technology”. No no, I love technology. I get so excited about a new piece of gear or a new update to my phones operating system. This is not about throwing away all things tech and busting out 100lb cameras from 50 years ago. It is to remind us that all great things require patience.
When you buy that new camera take the time to learn it. I mean really learn it. Don’t just turn it on, click the button and see a pretty image and then think you understand the camera. So often we switch camera bodies our brains never have a chance to learn where the buttons are. We spend so much of our time just fiddling with the back of the camera trying to remember where our shutter dial is or the ISO button, we run out of time being creative. The technology got in the way of learning the process.
We continue buying 1 click presets in hope they make our work better, yet we don’t spend the time needed to learn what the sliders actually do in lightroom. Are you truly ok just buying a preset and having your work look exactly the like the work of the person who created it and possibly 1000’s of other people who bought the preset as well? Again, nothing wrong with presets but what happens with the preset doesn’t do what you want it to do? Do you know the technique required to fix it? Do you have the patience and have you dedicated the time to learn what you can do to fix it?
My challenge for all of us is to try and avoid of the hype of instant fixes. Instant presets and relying on technology to do it all for you. With cameras being fairly cheap these days and with technology so advanced it is easy to pick them up and take a great photo. Take the time to learn your craft. Take the time to learn how to engage with your clients more. Take the time to learn posing and the human connection.
Are you a wedding photographer? Watch french love stories. Watch cinematic movies and see how directors tell their love stories.
Are you a family photographer? Learn how to build emotion during your family photos and provide your clients with a memory that is tied to their session. How much more impactful could your sessions be if your clients remember sharing stories and laughter while looking at their images instead of remembering their photographer fuddling with the back of their camera screen?
