Five Habits of Highly Effective Photographers
I’ve spent my entire adult life pursuing photographic excellence. There have been times when I felt like it was out of my reach and others when I thought I knew it all but didn’t.
Finally, after 50 years, I think I kind of sort of know what I am doing and I believe that these five things have been very effective at making ME effective, no matter what I photographed.
In no particular order…
1. Forget about your gear. There is no magic camera or lens. There is no gear that will magically turn you into a master photographer. Spend your time thinking about, dreaming about, studying your subject. Then think about what story you want to tell about that subject and when that occupies 100% of your mindset, your gear choices will be easy and will frankly not matter anywhere as much as your willingness to let your subject inhabit a story you can tell through the lens.
2. Spend LOTS of time looking at professionally produced photographs by successful, established photographers. Writers who want to get better at writing spend lots of time reading. Photographers who want to get better at photography spend lots of time looking at photos. You can do this by spending time at the local library, perusing magazines. You can do this by looking at websites full of pictures. You can do this by studying billboards, looking at commercial advertising circulars or even just studying pictures you see on bus billboards. If you make it a practice to regularly study professionally produced pictures there’s no doubt that you will subconsciously learn something that you can apply to your own work. Don’t discount how powerful this is. When I started making this a daily habit, my work improved dramatically.
3. Make photos every day and set goals that force you to get off the couch and out in the field doing the thing you SAY you want to do. You can find different ways to make this a habit. Start a 365 project. Or set out to accomplish monthly goals. However you do it, just make sure to keep a camera in your hand each and every day. You cannot learn how to be a great photographer by watching YouTube videos or commenting in camera forums. You can ONLY do it by using your camera and using it daily. There are two kinds of photographers — those who use their mouth to tell you how passionate they are about photography and those who show you their portfolio. Be in the second group if you want to become a highly effective photographer.
4. Show your work show your work show your work show your work. Show your work every single chance you get. Share it everywhere. The goal is to get what you’ve worked so hard on SEEN. Be innovative in how you accomplish this but be sure it becomes a priority. Along with showing your work you’ll encounter feedback. My advice here will be very controversial but here it is. Ignore 95% of the feedback you get about your work (good or bad) UNLESS — it comes from someone with demonstrable authority, skill and experience. If you get THAT kind of feedback, you’re seeing one of the benefits of sharing your work — i.e., mentorship. For those just starting out — the primary goal of developing this habit is to attract a mentor. Later, it will be to attract assignments, licensing, print sales, etc.
5. Start describing yourself as a visual storyteller — not a photographer. People who use cameras to express their point of view are practicing photography at the highest level. People who just point and shoot and react are all (no doubt) enjoying their cameras, but it’s a different thing all together. If you’re serious about mastering photography, you need to be deliberate, and thoughtful and contemplative and you need to have a goal for each and every photo and that should be to tell a story.
CONCLUSION
I am giving this advice based on 50 years in photography. I know this advice can be helpful because it’s about habits that I myself have found tried and true. So give it some thought and a try. I am rooting for you.
