5 lessons I've learned on my photography journey
Learning something new is often a very long and slow process.
However many times someone tells you something, you don’t learn until you actually do it yourself.
After few years of my slow process of lots of doing, learning, practising and making mistakes here are 5 main lessons that I’ve learned on this creative journey. By sharing these here I hope you will be inspired and motivated to go out, shoot more and get better than you were yesterday.
The camera brand/model you use really doesn’t matter
I know this is extra annoying to read but the truth is we all like to believe that the only thing missing to improving our photography is the latest high resolution and speed beast by Sony/Canon/Nikon/Fujifilm etc. The camera really doesn’t matter so much, especially not that much when first starting out because photography at this stage is about learning how to see, learning how to use the light to evoke emotion and learning how to tell a story. So if you don’t learn these things well, having the best camera there is on the market won’t change the fact you don’t know the essence of photography. Besides, when you’re starting out there is so much technical stuff to learn and having a high end professional camera can only add to the confusion and end up being so intimidating that puts you off photography for life.
2. Lenses are more important than cameras
Camera bodies (from the last few years) often have similar sensors but they vary in the options and shooting customisations they offer, so it’s not really necessary to buy the latest camera to get great image quality. Best to invest those money on good quality lenses. Using higher quality lens can produce better quality images. That’s a fact. So don’t buy the kit lens, instead maybe go strait to the 50mm prime lens.
Another very important fact that I’ve learned and has changed my photography journey for the better is when I realised that the type of lens I used greatly affected the look and style of my photos. Using one camera and 2 different lenses can produce 2 very different looking images.
3. It really is all about that light
I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, but when you want to create a certain emotion in your photos it really all comes down to the light. Think of a mysterious scene, does it include low light, mist and fog or is it a sunny bright summer’s day? Think of a happy scene, does it include lots of colour and bright light or is it a rainy grey day?
An amazing light in a shot can turn an ordinary photo of a chair into a magical glowing dreamscape. The opposite can be true too. So if there is one thing that any photographer should do is learn and practice light. Often times, when you look at photos and one catches your attention but you don’t quite understand why because it appears as an ordinary scene - it comes down to the use of great light. So next time you browse photos online, pay attention to this, analyse at every opportunity you have and learn by practising it yourself. And there is nothing wrong with copying when you’re learning, so don’t be afraid to do it because it’s all part of the process.
4. Editing brings your vision to life
Cameras are not perfect and they never capture a scene the way our eyes see things. But even when they do, our eyes are factual (they see what there is) but our mind is a wonderland. Our mind can see a scene and imagine it so much better, grander, more breathtaking. This is the role of editing. A way to bring to life what our beautiful minds imagine on a daily basis. We all have unique ways of seeing things and editing is one of the main tools photographers use to express their creative vision and in that way overtime create their unique style.
5. Shot what you love
It took me years to learn this but the best work often comes when you take photos of the things you actually enjoy in your life and inevitably in this way your personal photography style will be born. Every single human on this planet is so unique. Our looks, our feelings, our likes and dislikes, our dreams, our ambitions, our opinions are all combinations of uniqueness to each one of us. So don’t feel pressure to copy someone else’s life because the truth is that no one in the history of the world has ever done a better job at being you than you are. Only you can create what’s so amazingly unique about you and the world is eagerly waiting for it.
Hope you enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to reading your comments below. And if you found this post useful and would like more of this kind of content please subscribe to the newsletter for some excited news coming soon.