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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> In the Groove #6
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 08/05/2004 10:41:54 PM · #1
This is by far the hardest In the Groove for me to write. I have had to think long and hard about this before sitting down at the keyboard and hammering it out. Why is this so hard? Because the subject is 'What is YOUR biggest obstacle on the road to succcess as a photographer?'

I have for a long time thought that I have a fear of success. This so called fear was something that kept me from becoming all that I could be in many areas. It kept me from completing college, it kept me from completing an at home training course, it has kept me in a crappy job that I hate right now more than anything. So I started doing some digging into my psyche a little and discovered something. It's not a fear of success that holds me back, it's a fear of FAILURE! I have discovered in my own existance that if I don't try anything, I won't fail at it! Now that I've made this discovery, I have to move on to the next step. I have yet to truly figure out how to overcome this fear, but now that I have quantified it...

In a photography sense, this fear keeps me from actually working on my photography. For example shooting my brothers wedding and then not PS'ing the shots. Having ideas for challenges, but putting off shooting them. Not getting up in the morning when I know it will be a nice misty morning to go to the park to shoot...

I guess what I'm asking you to do is look into YOUR psyche a little, tell us what your main obstacle is and how you have overcome it (if you have)...

Edited to add the third paragraph.

Message edited by author 2004-08-05 22:49:30.
 08/05/2004 11:31:57 PM · #2
I have always been a little suspect of the whole 'fear of failure' ideology. I know that when that became a catch-phrase, I was thinking, "well, yes of course, we fear failure", but is that maybe another way of saying "why try"? I think that for me, I am always adjusting my reality to perception. I am passionate about photography, I truly love it. Part of me wants to be everything photography, part of me then sees what can be done. Then a part of me says let's BE that. Then the other part says "we can't be". And so the dialog starts. In the end, where I am now, is that I am not the next GREAT photographer. Right now, that is OK. So I will ENJOY this thing called photography. It will be a a PART of my life. At times, a bit on the obsessive side. Other times, I will hurt, thinking, What was I thinking? I can't do this. Look at these people. They have THE gift. I don't. But then I am back to: This gives me more pleasure , more satisfaction, than any other outside pursuit right now. So I keep plugging along and trying to always return to "I want to ENJOY this and while I am doing so, Enjoy. So my biggest obstacle is the amount of me I can or am willing to put into this right now for the amount of "return" I think I want. It is a process, not an end result for me.

Message edited by author 2004-08-05 23:33:29.
 08/05/2004 11:46:28 PM · #3
I agree with you 100% Ron. I think people use the 'fear of success' crap as a crutch. the only reason to fear success, is that you might then lose it...so you've hit it on the head - fear of failure.

I used to cope with my fear of failure by only doing the things i excelled at. What turned it around for me was changing the way i measured success. You can't control what others do, only what you do. an example: If you are in sales, you can't make someone buy your product; you can only make sure you ask them to buy it. if you don't ask, you won't enable them to choose to buy it. so you succeed by asking, not by selling.

In photography, I can't make you like my picture, but I can give you the opportunity by taking the picture, and guaging your reaction to it. If I don't show it to you, you can't like it. So success to me means getting out there and trying things.

This way, the only way i fail is if i don't try...in other words only *I* control my success or failure.

This thinking very literally changed my life.

I like this installment - good job.

P
 08/06/2004 12:03:31 AM · #4
my philosophy...

I can only go up from here. Ive survived the bottom dwelling angst ridden existence thus far. Falling from grace is no big deal...familiar territory. Life is not easy... but what fun would it be without a good challenge? Ride the wave!

and...fear IS the mind killer.

Message edited by author 2004-08-06 00:05:17.
 08/06/2004 12:36:19 AM · #5
It's been said before...

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

"There would be no one to frighten you if you refused to be afraid."
-Mohandas K. Gandhi

"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."
-Michael Pritchard

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
-Frank Herbert

"I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time."
-Charlie Brown

"Man up and take a shot."
-Mick Newton

08/06/2004 01:25:23 AM · #6
Originally posted by micknewton:
It's been said before...


You forgot...

"Kid, you tried your best... and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."
-Homer J. Simpson
 08/06/2004 02:38:51 AM · #7


hm, good question. i think that for me, my ideas come in phases. i almost equate it to the writer's block i used to get. oh heck—who am i kidding--i'm currently in a ‘several year’ one--it's why i picked up photography! ;) but sometimes i just feel like my imagination fails me. for example, i used to be enamored with lighting, and would wander around my house trying to figure out different things to light and the most bizarre ways to light them. then i got hooked on people photography--and that is a whole new world. now most of my ideas revolve around a person or people, which is great, but unfortunately i also get certain people in my head for a particular role, and if they aren’t available, no one else will do. this happens frequently. is stubbornness a flaw? :) so then i find myself stuck. until recently, that is.

dostoevsky said that “boredom excites imagination.” this is so true. lately my approach to photography has been that once the seed gets planted, (having the challenge topics at dpc is great fuel for the imagination—a wonderful starting point) i just let my brain go on auto-pilot until something starts simmering. which is fine until i get bogged down in thinking that nothing is good enough because it has all been done before, etc. my solution to this negative thinking? do something else. something completely out of your element. for me that is landscape photography. it used to totally bore me. i have never cared much for it really, because to me, photography is about capturing emotion, which is why i like using people as my subjects. but i was told recently that i needed more local landscape type shots for my displays—to satisfy the local tourists. and after a brief period of blockage/fighting it/seeing nothing of interest, i realized that i had been limiting myself—that you could indeed express emotion through nature, as many brilliant photographers here and elsewhere have shown us. now i even find myself getting up at sunrise just to see what i can get!

so while it is still not my favorite type of photography to do, making myself think in those (different) terms helps me to broaden my views and subsequently helps clear the way that much more for the stuff i am really interested in. by branching out, trying something different, you enable yourself to keep things in perspective and perhaps even give yourself a whole new view of what you truly love.
08/06/2004 04:27:43 AM · #8
I think the biggest thing holding me back is laziness and procrastination. I am just great at putting things off and failing to do as much with my time as I could.

But I confess that fear of failure seldom holds me back. I figure that there are few circumstances where simply trying for something I want will jeopardise what I already have. So I try. I guess if I continuously failed at everything I did I'd start finding it depressing but I'd say I succeed at more things than I fail at and I'm an eternal optimist so I tend to focus on and remember the successes more than the failures.

But I do think that fear of failure IS a real issue for many people and not just a psycho-babble theory. I do feel that I am very lucky that this is not something I suffer from. I have a few friends that sometimes get trapped in this same mental box and I usually ask them stuff like this:

So what if you fail?

What will happen if you don't get the mark you want in that school/ university/ professional exam? Will you still have enjoyed the experience? Will your knowledge and skills still have grown? You may not be able to follow the path you planned to take after the exam but you'll find another path to follow. Only in very few instances is this kind of failure something that really wrecks someone's dreams...

If you discreetly send your CV out to look for jobs and don't get one you want as quickly as you hoped what will happen? Will you get fired from your current job? Will it make your current job worse, really? Will your daily experience change very much? Won't it increase the chances of you finding an alternative and hence make the daily grind just a little more bearable?

What will happen if you take a photo according to a difficult idea and it doesn't come out as well as you hoped or score as high as you hoped on DPC? Won't you have learned something from the experience and comments that may help you improve next time?

Message edited by author 2004-08-06 04:28:51.
 08/06/2004 04:41:35 AM · #9
The main thing that used to block me was the belief that I needed to understand why I needed to do this thing called photography. I felt I needed to rationalize or even justify my desire to take pictures, let alone the need to invest in the gear to do so. These attempts to rationalize, or find a reason, slow down the creative process and use up the energy needed to be involved in it.

Once I stopped questioning my desire to take photos and just went about doing it, on the basis that it simply feels natural to me, the whole situation changed and a new era of freedom opened in my life.

I came to realise that my natural desire to take photos is reason enough in its self for doing it.
 08/06/2004 06:39:31 AM · #10
Originally posted by TooCool:
... I guess what I'm asking you to do is look into YOUR psyche a little, tell us what your main obstacle is and how you have overcome it (if you have)...

Fear of success? Sure, but that didn't really explain anything -- just labeled it.
Fear of failure? Sure, but that's just another label.

Just what is being labeled?

Over the course of the last couple of years I have been taking a good long hard look at why I do what I do, and why I do it the way I do.

I use to be so uptight all the time -- practically afraid to change anything for fear of... Well, that is the point isn't it? If I knew all about it, it couldn't really be called fear -- now could it?

The first barrier I found was people -- just people. I could be going along just fine, but the moment it involved others I would stop doing it. There have been many, many reasons I have given for this, justifying why I had to stop or how it was their fault, but none of that really matters. The important thing is that I would stop. Like I said, it didn't matter what I was doing, and there have been many, many activities that I have started and then stopped. It didn't even matter who the others were. To be perfectly honest, it didn't even matter if they knew I was doing it, or even thinking about doing it.

A fear of failure was a part of it; but only in some activities. Upon examination, the common element for me was that all those activities I stopped doing because of a fear of failure were activities I was doing to please someone else. You see, if I failed while doing something that another was depending upon, that failure would be a reflection on them and could lead to their ridicule for alloying themselves with me -- disgrace by contagion.

A fear of success was also a part of it. This is probably going to sound arrogant and egotistical, bit it really isn't. In fact, viewing myself as such for even thinking this is part of why it took so long to uncover. You see, for whatever reason, I don't seem to ever doubt my ability to learn to do anything. I often doubt my ability to perform under specific or general circumstances, but never my ability to learn. To state it concisely, I am absolutely certain that the only thing that can prevent me from learning to do anything that can be done is my own interest in that activity. For instance I would love to be able to draw; to pick up a pencil and create an image from nothing but my own imagination. I am certain that I could learn to do so, but I don't have the interest in spending the time required to learn to do so. Some activities will take me longer than others to learn, but I can learn it; just the same as anyone else can. It took me a long time before I recognized that others don't have this certainty about themselves, even though I am just as certain that anyone can learn to do anything as I am certain I can. See, I told you it's not as egotistical as it first sounded.

But that is also the key to what we are labelling as my fear of success. You see, since I never (and I do mean never) question my ability do learn, it is the one ability I can always fall back on. The result is that in any activity I got interested in, I tended to introvert into and it would become my world. This single-mindedness allowed me to become good at a number of things. At times, I have given in to the temptation of popularity and taken up tasks that I wanted to learn to do for the purpose of gaining attention -- and I did learn them. But I learned as a small boy that in any group there is someone that is considered 'the best' at some specific activity. To many times I have introverted into some activity, and become the best at it -- only to find that I had taken from the previous best the one thing they felt they were certain about in their lifes. The hurt expressions on their faces when everything they had identified themselves with was stripped away, was enough for me to stop trying to do anything that I could identify someone else as the groups best. There are a few isolated incidents that demonstrate this, but I won't bore you with them. The point is, that they identified themselves with some activity (rightly or wrongly, it really doesn't matter) and I took it from them. It didn't even matter if I knew I was taking it from them or not.

But, like I mentioned above, labeling the 'fear of...' doesn't do anything other than give those who don't understand something to discuss it with. It is hard to talk about something only vaguely understood without some term to refer to it with. But it didn't lead to a means of handling the issue, so identifying and labeling was of little use to me. So I kept looking.

Then it occured to me that both of these 'fears', as well as a few other things, had one thing in common. The ohter things aren't really important, as the 'fears' are not really important, since they are specific to me -- and will likely be different for every individual on the planet. But, the one thing they had in common I believe is much more universal. All of these things were things I was doing for others in some way or another. From doing something for another, sort of like being them while they are elsewhere -- to not doing something because it takes something away from another -- even to doing things only in a certain way, or with certain things, because another would have preferred it. It didn't matter if I was doing something that I truly enjoyed or not (I rarely can't find something to enjoy about anything I do), doing it for another was were I drew the line.

The last paragraph probably didn't make a lot of sense, but it boiled down to a matter of perspective. Anything that I want to do can be viewed as a negative activity if I look at it from a certain perspective. That perspective seemed to always be the perspective I attributed to others. By that I mean I was inventing a perspective that I then assigned to others, and then modified my actions to please that perspective. Keep in mind that this is all taking place mentally, so it happens before any physical interaction could take place. So when the individual I had just out-performned came up and said, 'good game.'; it was not matching up to the perspective I had decided must be there based on their expression at being bested.

From this I came to the conclussion that modifying my behavior to please my perspective of what another's perspecive is, is evil in every sense of the word. That is not so say that I don't care what others think. That was just a rationalization to continue despite what I was thinking they were thinking. It was true in a sense I guess, I didn't care what they thought -- only what I thought they thought. What a mess that thinking process is.

Now I do things because I want to, and don't think about what others think about it. I like pleasing others with my actions, but that is not the reason I do them. It reminds me of a prank played on me as a child in grade school. Some kids told me that I could not decide to stand up on my own, that someone else had to decide it for me. We would go back and forth and finally the challenge would be made. I would sit in a chair, and then when I decided to stand another of the group would stand at the same time. The instigator then proudly proclaimed that he was right and that this other kid had to make the decision for me to stand for me. The others would agree.

What does this have to do with my doing actions in day to day life. I have heard mentioned on this forum and others that people are not willing to do what they really love for a paycheck. They almost universally say that if another is telling me to do it, or how to do it, it loses its appeal. It seems they may as well be saying that they can not enjoy doing something if another wants them to do it. After looking this over for the last couple of years I have reached a point that I look at it from a different way completely. I am doing what I want to do, and would be doing that regardless of if they wanted me to or not. So them wanting me to do it is just them being thoughtful enough to provide an opportunity to do it even more. Maybe even to get paid for doing it.

When I made this change in my perspective on life, my entire attitude toward doing for others changed. Even to the point of my dead-end job (I drive an 80ton forklift unloading railcars at a factory), which is about as far from what I want to do as it can get, is fun most of the time. You see, if I force myself to do something, I make it a drudgery, but by wanting to do it the fun of doing (just doing) makes the day enjoyable. This is true even when the only reason I want to do something is to get the paycheck that puts food on the table.

Sorry about the length, I didn't intend to type so much when I started.

But you did ask a rather loaded question. :p

David
 08/06/2004 06:46:19 AM · #11
David
You expressed yourself very eloquently as I followed every word and I understood. I didn't identify with all of it but I absolutely understood that part of your thoughts that you just shared and it made a kind of sense.
Thanks for that insight.
Kavey
 08/06/2004 07:53:39 AM · #12
I sorta followed that. It's a bit convoluted, but it's essence is there and fits with my idea of what holds me back. The greatest and most difficult fear to rid myself of was/is thinking about how others will see me. It's not so much a feeling of being judged all the time. It's more like that common phrase "what will the neighbors think?" kind of thing. I have found that I have to block those thoughts if I want to succeed. I also think a lot of other people label this as the fear of success/failure without understanding that the root of those fears is the fear of not being accepted as themselves.
 08/06/2004 10:14:40 AM · #13
I try very hard to only worry about things I have any control over. If I can't do anything about it - I can't do anything about it - so why worry about it.

This relates to photography and day to day life as well. I find not worrying about a lot of external factors I have no control over, lets me focus more on achieving what I want to do, with the things I do have influence over.

Coupled with that - I'm almost terminally lazy and procrastinate a lot. However, I find I'm smart lazy - in that I'll get things done so I don't have to waste effort worrying about not doing them...
 08/06/2004 10:29:06 AM · #14
Originally posted by Gordon:
Coupled with that - I'm almost terminally lazy and procrastinate a lot. However, I find I'm smart lazy - in that I'll get things done so I don't have to waste effort worrying about not doing them...


hey! I resemble that remark!
 08/06/2004 10:37:17 AM · #15
My biggest problem and barrier to success??? I could list thousands (LOL) but my main problem stems from the fact that I am very impatient...

1. Read the whole manual for the camera? Uh...no...I have a life thanks!
2. Buy books, complete classes, ask for advice??? No thanks...I am a do-it-yourselfer.
3. Slow down and actually COMPOSE the shot the way I want it first instead of cropping/adjusting/manipulating in PS because, hey, that's what it's for, right? Nah....just point and shoot!

I could really go on and on...but I know enough about myself to know that the connection between instant gratification, impatience, and outstanding photography is very loose. To improve, I have to actually slow down and do it right. But what's the fun in that??? ;o)
 08/06/2004 11:23:53 AM · #16
Interesting posts, all of them!

I remember when I bought my first 'real' camera about 5 or 6 years ago. It was a manual Minolta XG or something like that. I remember this intense feeling of 'home' when I held it in my hands. But I didn't use it much. I bought lenses, books, stuff... Later I bought other cameras, more books, etc. But still I didn't do much. I was a photographer who didn't photograph. I wanted to; Taking pictures was what I wanted to do more than anything else. But the few times I would make myself take some photos, I would be unhappy with results. That would start the negative self-talk... 'You're never going to be any good at this.' 'Who are you trying to kid thinking you have creative talent.' ' You really need to stop all this foolishness and concentrate on a real career.' You know, all that crap that runs through your head.

I had access to the knowledge with the books and I had access to the gear and I had no excuses not to try. Fear is a mighty powerful thing! I realized that I was sabotaging myself. How? Well if I had the books but didn't read them & learn than of course I wouldn't know what I was doing. But my fear was that if I actually made the effort to learn and my photographs still sucked, that would prove that I had told myself the truth and that I wouldn't ever be any good. If I took the time to learn about my camera, read the manual, and understand how the tool worked but my photographs still sucked then that would prove that I had told myself the truth and I would never be any good.

In January I turned 33. I like that number, don't you? But something clicked for me on that day. I had to face some hard realizations about myself and what I was doing to hold myself back. These realizations made me start to think that hey, "this is my year!" It's time to stop letting the fear rule and it's time to start making a real effort and it's high time that find out for real how far I can take this photography thing by actually doing something about it.

In other words, it's time to shit or get off the pot!

So, I still have a lot to learn but all those books aren't collecting dust on my bookshelf any more. I've gotten to know my camera and am still learning about it and I'm TRYING. If I fail, then I fail. But at least I won't be on my death bed wondering what if.

Here's to telling fear take a flying leap, ya'll! Happy clicking!!
 08/06/2004 12:41:31 PM · #17
these are probably some of the most insightful, and useful, posts I have read since joining dpc. I think the barriers to success for most serious photographs goes well beyond technique... and these posts bring that to light.

I think fear of success is the start for me, but it runs much deeper. I've adjusted to failing a sports. I've accepted that I cannot play cards well enough compete with anybody over the age of 9. I even had an I/T project fail last month, which was new for me. But, failure at photography would hit at a completely different level than all of these things.

I fell in love with photography at the age of 9 or 10 while looking through old live magazines in my grandmothers basement. I could stare at some of those images for hours as they reverberated through my mind. From that point on I saw light differently and I would contantly be capturing moments of perfect light in my mind. As I learned more about photography, I started to collect more and more ideas of the photographs that I want to capture. But... when I grab my camera and start to shoot, I always go with the safe snapshot rather than the image in my head. If I fail at the snapshoot, it doesn't hurt. If I fail with the image that's in my head, the failure cascades, like a string of dominos, clear back to the images I captured in my mind as a kid.

I you love photography, it shapes how you see the world. Putting that vision on display for others is the scariest things that I can imagine. I take the safe snapshots that score in the 5's on dpc because that level of failure is bearable.
 08/06/2004 03:20:04 PM · #18
Success, failure - these things, to me, mean little after all these years. While courage is more useful than fear, the latter, too, has a purpose.

What interests me more is individual happiness (joy), a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment , (natural) growth and community (also in a selective sense). While the constitution of the so-called free countries acknowledge a right to pursue happiness, there is no provision of either means or meaning. ;-)

As a citizen and an individual, I 'd prefer the word and sense of duty in lieu of right, mostly for the change in direction and emphasis this could imply. When the emphasis is on giving rather than on taking, it seems to me, there is an ethical benefit (a contribution, really), which cannot be had from (justified) discontent dressed in a law suit. Instead, both community and, more importantly, the individual would be beneficiaries.

I cannot, frankly and consciously, claim any rights unless I know, pretty well, what these are. I cannot pursue happiness unless I know who I am, since happiness itself can only be defined by one not the many.

The only way I know to find out who I am is to become involved in the things I love and care for, and, to a defining degree, recognize that which I despise. As an artist, I can also become so involved in that which I despise until the destruction is so great that nothing remains, but beauty and truth. ;-)

The emphasis in doing and living -or so I'd tell my children- should be centered on discovery and not on some external measure of success and failure.

Message edited by author 2004-08-06 15:21:03.
 08/06/2004 03:37:11 PM · #19
Originally posted by TooCool:

I guess what I'm asking you to do is look into YOUR psyche a little, tell us what your main obstacle is and how you have overcome it (if you have)...


That's easy... Getting up early in the morning when the light is good! I don't dig studio work at all, so my studio is outside. When I pry open my eyelids at 5:00 AM and try to get up I'm usually mentally paralyzed. The few times I made it out of bed I came home with amazing shots. I've had some success at evening photography, but mornings are when I've done my best work. If I could ever overcome my alarm clock I'd move to a whole new level :)

I have no fear of failure whatsoever when it comes to photography. My images are intended to represent that which I enjoy in nature, so when I don't please the masses, or have a poor challenge showing it's no big deal. By picking a genre to focus on I have knowingly limited my market, and I'm ok with that.

08/06/2004 03:43:40 PM · #20
Originally posted by cghubbell:
Originally posted by TooCool:

I guess what I'm asking you to do is look into YOUR psyche a little, tell us what your main obstacle is and how you have overcome it (if you have)...


That's easy... Getting up early in the morning when the light is good! I don't dig studio work at all, so my studio is outside. When I pry open my eyelids at 5:00 AM and try to get up I'm usually mentally paralyzed. The few times I made it out of bed I came home with amazing shots. I've had some success at evening photography, but mornings are when I've done my best work. If I could ever overcome my alarm clock I'd move to a whole new level :)

I have no fear of failure whatsoever when it comes to photography. My images are intended to represent that which I enjoy in nature, so when I don't please the masses, or have a poor challenge showing it's no big deal. By picking a genre to focus on I have knowingly limited my market, and I'm ok with that.


I am in the same unfortunate boat as you - I am a night owl and just cannot do mornings. I told my husband I needed to start trying to for the sake of photography and he is still lauhging! I most love outdoor shots and the morning or evening light, also, but keep failing myself on the morning part.
 08/06/2004 03:55:25 PM · #21
Originally posted by cghubbell:

My images are intended to represent that which I enjoy in nature, so when I don't please the masses, or have a poor challenge showing it's no big deal. By picking a genre to focus on I have knowingly limited my market, and I'm ok with that.


I don't consider not pleasing the masses or a poor challenge to be failures. But, I also don't believe that any photographer takes images simply for their own personal viewing. We take photographes to communicate something in our vision of the world around us. The audience may only be loved ones, it may extend to friends and peers, or it may be some much larger audience. Faillure is when that thought, or vision, that we sought to capture is not effectively communicated to our intended audience.
08/06/2004 03:58:03 PM · #22
Two cents from a man whose major philosophy is the total enjoyment of the present moment by learning and practicing. I play sax, flute, piano, guitar, drums, paint with oils, watercolor and enjoy digital manipulation. I feel each of these fields are meaningless without their respective history. I became a professional commercial photographer, after I had owned a 4 color process plant. I do not want to be a musician because I do not like the road. I love my pillow.

Now, everything I do is to enjoy the immdediate moment. Success and failure have no say because I have learned that if you research a topic and you apply yourself, failure quickly loses its' teeth. On my late years, namely September of 2003 I went all digital and turned from commercial to digital art.

In short, I am the eternal student of the cosmos and everything I do is to satisfy myself....but I seek to make sure that my judgement in each field is as educated as possible. So, when I study music I make it a point to learn composition even though I will not compose, but its tools are important to improvise. With photography, I recreated the tools used my Ansel Adams.

My friendly advise is that when you fall in love with a hobby, learn as much as possible and you will come to agree that the jaws of failure have no effect at all. If you love something you do, respect it and pay whatever dues are required. Look at photography not as a recording medium but rather as a presentation medium where you control the effect, image and mood you wish to create....and if you lack any expertise, go and get it. It will not make you better, but it will bring your ideas into fruition much quicker. Most important, do not take yourself too seriously. The object is the celebration of life and what the Indians call the "Dance of Shiva"....enjoy.

Message edited by author 2004-08-06 16:01:12.
 08/07/2004 03:51:26 PM · #23
Wow, I didn't realize when I wrote this thread that it would be so deep. Great insites!
 08/07/2004 04:12:28 PM · #24
I used to look at things, whether photography or writing and think I needed to be like those who are successful. I tried to emulate them and suddenly realised I didn't want to be a pale imitation of someone else. I decided I would do what I enjoyed...what I liked...if someone else liked it then fine. If not, I wasn't about to lose any sleep over it.
I've been taking pics for many years and most are still crap, but every once in a while a good one pops up. That's all the justification I need to continue with this irritating, expensive, frustrating and addictive hobby. So, do you think I'm about to stop cos I fear failure??
 08/10/2004 09:35:49 AM · #25
Originally posted by Nusbaum:

I don't consider not pleasing the masses or a poor challenge to be failures. But, I also don't believe that any photographer takes images simply for their own personal viewing. We take photographes to communicate something in our vision of the world around us. The audience may only be loved ones, it may extend to friends and peers, or it may be some much larger audience. Faillure is when that thought, or vision, that we sought to capture is not effectively communicated to our intended audience.


Right! I guess I was oversimplifying my response. Of course, I love it when people viewing my work respond as though they had experienced something similar to what I did while photographing... That's extrremely rewarding. In that respect I see photography much like writing - how well can I convey my message not just technically, but emotionally. One of my classic successes in this respect is "Looking Outward."


If I didn't care at all what others thought I wouldn't post the shots on the Internet. However, if I post an image which I found to capture a moment exactly as I wanted it captured, and it fails to delight the masses I remain satisfied with my work and brush off the critique with little afterthought. For example, "Irondequoit Bay Goose"

is not a breathtaking photo and hasn't been one of my more popular shots. I know exactly why others don't love it, but it perfectly captures that which I wanted to capture, so I'm still happy with it.

I think we're talking about the same thing... I just wasn't clear enough in my initial post.
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