Written by Found this particular blog entry through dpreview. Didn’t even realize this guy was from Kansas City until I saw the KCFD photos. Small world, I tell you. But this particular quote caught my eye, because honestly, I’m going through the same kind of rut.
I hate every photograph I shoot. Nothing seems worthy of being photographed, and I can barely stand the thought of pressing the shutter release on another photograph, only to be disappointed with how it will look.
It seems that once you get to a certain point in your photography, you’re wanting to hit the next level, and until you feel that you have gotten to that level, you really despise the shots that you’re currently shooting. Even though they may look good to others, we’re constantly seeing the flaws in our work rather than the good. We become overly critical of ourselves.
A friend pointed out that perhaps I was reliving what mom always told me when I was a kid. That I was never good enough, I was going to fail, etc.. etc.. But in my opinion, I think that we just realize that we can do much better. Yea, the shots are technically good, but we strive for something better than what we’ve been doing. We feel as if our creative wisdom has been drained.
I’ve thought about this for a while, and just made the decision to just keep shooting for the original reason I shot. To have fun and to express myself. Eventually, my creativity will kick back in, and I’ll pull off shots that I feel are up to my own standards. But until then, I’m trying not to forget that I love photography, and to refrain from working so hard at it, whether it’s for myself, or for someone else.
Speaking of which, I think I’m about due for another trip to the Kansas City Zoo.
I think you nailed it, Marcellus. We constantly strive to be better than we are, but once we get better, it is not enough. My shots from several years ago are HORRIBLE. But, at the time I was happy enough with them and they seved my purposes. Now I expect a lot more from myself and sometimes that gets me into a negative frame of mind (like yesterday).
I received a LOT of positive suggestions and most of them involve backing off, dropping my expectations for a while, and just shooting something different. If I have to, I will put the camera away for a while, but I am not ready for that just yet.
Nice blog. We need to get together and go shoot something sometime since we are in the same city.
Don't forget, the airshow is this weekend. I am already seeing the planes fly around the city. =)
Chris
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