Nine Simple Truths About Becoming A Better Photographer
I’ve been bumming around with a camera for around 50 years. It occurs to me, that I might have picked up a couple of things that could help those of you who are new at this. For those of you who aren’t new, maybe just getting the perspective of an old man will open your eyes to something new.
So here are nine simple truths that I think will help you become a better photographer. By the way, I think these tips will help all kinds of photographers, not just toy photographers…
1. Make things interesting. Get close. Use super wide lenses. Give us a perspective we’re not used to.
2. Be more selective. Make fewer exposures and be more deliberate in your choices. Do not spray and pray. Think about why you are going to press that shutter button. I make far fewer exposures than I used to make when I was a newbie.
3. Practice patience. This goes to being deliberate. Taking your time. Thinking about your choices and trying to do more than make a snapshot.
4. If you’re photographing outside, pray for weather. Seriously. Bald blue skies are boring. Hope for clouds, and snow and all sorts of less than comfortable weather. The character of the light and the skies on such days is worth more than gold. Clouds make pictures more interesting. They also make for better sunrises and sunsets.
5. Learn the gear you have. Before you purchase a new lens, demonstrate that you have mastered the lenses you already own. There is a lot to be said for taking it slow when you’re adding gear. Make sure you know what you want from new gear and make sure you cannot get it from the old gear before you make the leap.
6. Stop photographing everything from a height of 5’8″ (the average height of a tripod.) Get up or get down. Get high or get low. Use angle to tell stories. Shoot up on subjects if you want to give them hero status. Shoot down on them to remove their power. Shoot eye-to-eye to establish an emotional connection. How high or low the camera is to the ground when you shoot is much more important than just about anything you can think of.
7. Study light. Chase light. Ignore the people who are of the religion of low light. Instead, make light, crave light, love light, find light. When I started out, a Japanese friend of mine was impressed with my use of light and dubbed me a light and shadow warrior. This is a title I have always cherished. Nothing matters in photography more than light. Nothing.
8. Make checklists and update/check them often. I cannot tell you how important this is to building what I call, mental muscle memory. When you board a commercial aircraft, you can bet the pilots are running over multiple checklists every time they fly. These are people who have probably done this a minimum of hundreds of times and probably thousands of times. Yet they still use the checklist. I live by my checklists and am not ashamed to say I rely heavily on them.
9. Remember photography is a spiritual calling. Those of us who use our cameras are high priests and priestesses of memory protection. It’s up to us to tell stories with our cameras that may end up being the last memory of the people, places or things we photograph. It’s a serious, and important thing. Treat it that way.
CONCLUSION
There is one amazing thing about photography that keeps drawing me in deeper and deeper. Even though I am now an old man, with fewer tomorrows than I have yesterdays, every time I grab a camera I am full of hope. Hope for what comes next. These days — it’s hope that I will make a cool toy photograph that brings someone else a smile. Find that in your own work and you will always be rich.
Remember, toys are joy.
For a list of my toy photo gear and props go to:
bit.ly/toyphotogear
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vero.co/scottbourne
