Do you actually like your own work?

iamchrisphoto

iamchrisphoto

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637
Name
Chris Scuffins
Edit My Images
No
Maybe this is just me, but i am constantly disappointed with everything I shoot.

I mean, I'm not going to give up or stop. But I constantly look back at what I took last year/month/week, even hours after and what I previously though was a great shot, just looks, well awful.

I recently second shot a wedding, it was literally the most fun I've had with a camera. I was smiling ear to ear, loving what I was shooting and seeing on the LCD during the day. Importing the cards at the end of the day, was even better, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited to get on processing all of these great images I took.

Two days later, I struggled to scrap together a handful of images I didn't absolutely hate, and even then I would rather not share them anyone. The main photographer was very happy with them, which is what counts, but I'm not proud of them in the slightest. I look at them and just see a load of rubbish.

I'm getting bookings, and selling stuff via Getty etc, so I must be doing most of it right, but I don't think I've ever taken an image I'm proud of.

Does any else feel like this? Or am I just failing to meet my own ever increasing standards?
 
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Yep, pretty much the same.

My apple tv is linked to my Flickr "best" set, so very time the tv goes to sleep mode it plays a sideshow of my "best" images.
Pretty much everyone single one taken more than a week ago, I hate and see massive flaws in.

There a select few which even after time I still like, but the majority I could easily delete and never look at again.

Its all about self confidence and belief. Only we can fix that.
 
I think it's a cliche but it holds water: you are always your own worst critic. Personally I prefer the sage like words of the Gin Blossoms: If you don't expect too much from me, I might not let you down :eek:)
Sometimes, when none of it seems good enough, go through the photos with a likeminded friend, let them decide what is good or not. Another pair of eyes can make all the difference...
 
Must be a Gloucester thing:LOL:
I also hate pretty much everything I take. My wife likes a couple so they got put to canvas but the vast majority is just utter bilge!
 
Leathertramp said:
Personally I prefer the sage like words of the Gin Blossoms: If you don't expect too much from me, I might not let you down :eek:)
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"And you know it might not be that bad" from the same song :)

(nice to see another Gin Blossoms fan here)


I know it's not going to set the world on fire, but I turn out stuff that I still like. I've been at this game for 30 years now and I think I'm past the barrier of competent and occasionally get into good enough.
 
If you fail to meet your own standards and expectations and it keeps you shooting more, then that's no bad thing. It's when the expectations kill the motivation that you have a problem....

I know my work can be too niche and is fit for only one purpose much of the time, but those times when the images speaks to someone who I wouldn't have thought would pay attention, that makes me feel great. I love my work, I love where it takes me and I love the feeling of knowing that I can do better. Yes, there are slumps and creative troughs, but that's to be expected in any creative process. As long as you can look back at something and see the journey and know it'll take you somewhere, that can only be a good thing... can't it?
 
I don't think its unusual to be hyper critical of your own work, in fact I think probably this is a key trait of a photographer who stands a chance of getting up there.

Too many people are the reverse - not being able to self criticise at all, not understanding what is good and bad.

Self critique is an essential skill, the only time it becomes a problem is when you've shot a shoot for a job and absolutely hate everything you've taken but have to yield up some work but believe its all pants.

Thats quite a kicking you give yourself.... been there, done that!
 
Think your being a little harsh on yourself, which isn't a bad thing, always room for improvement. As for me, I'm generally happy with my work, but as my school report use to say .... Must try harder!
 
iamchrisphoto said:
Maybe this is just me, but i am constantly disappointed with everything I shoot.
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How many do you print or have printed?

It's very easy to be too critical of your own work on the screen, because on-screen images are a commodity. Get some of your work on paper and then judge your work.
 
I think if this is a hobby to you, you have that luxury to suck once in a while. If you're doing this as a job however then of course there is a certain pressure to perform. I've never been paid to take photos. I think on occasion that they would be good enough but I don't want that pressure to have to take a great shot or disappoint someone/people. This may be where the OP is at. I say let others decide what is good or not. I think every individual is always going to see something that they could've done better in their work...
 
HCB reckoned the first 10,000 photos are the worst (although that was when they came 36 to a roll...), and that if he took one good shot a year he was lucky!

It's always worth going back and looking through stuff from a year or more ago - you'll probably find one or two that look much better now than they did after a week. It's a good reason to save everything that isn't utter garbage because some of the good stuff will be in the reject pile.

Another way to judge pictures is to print them, stick them on the wall and live with them for a while. Some get pulled down quickly, others don't.
 
Alastair said:
It's very easy to be too critical of your own work on the screen, because on-screen images are a commodity. Get some of your work on paper and then judge your work.
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(y) Couldn't agree more.

Many times after coming back from a shoot, I've looked through the files and thought, yeah they're ok, could do better, shame I missed that, etc, etc.

And then the client chooses the images, they get printed big, framed, and you know what? That's when I think, I'm actually not too bad at this :)

But don't ever stop being critical of your own work, though at the same time don't let self doubt take over, it can be very destructive.

IMHO to succeed in this industry, confidence and belief in your self, is just as important as being a great photographer.
 
treeman said:
IMHO to succeed in this industry, confidence and belief in your self, is just as important as being a great photographer.
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Hmmmm yes and no.

Confidence and self belief have to be tempered with grounded realism.

Too many people seem to get suckered into a very modern idea that self belief = talent and that brand marketing can overcome the rest. I think its caused by talent show tv (and I include "business talent" shows in that too).

Its ok to fluff up the goods, but make sure you are 90% there before you try to fluff them.
 
There's a difference between seeing how you could do something better another time and ripping what you've done to shreds. The former is a more constructive process and more likely to lead to wanting to go out and shoot. Cognitive dissonance is a useful skill so that you can like your own work and see the flaws with it at the same time :)
 
Haven't took a single photo yet that i'm totally happy with, always some way too improve.
 
I have been doing some backing up of my files to Dropbox and external drives. As part of that I have tweaked most in LR before export as LR ability has improved over the years. Many of my early ones were on a D40 and kit lens. Now its a D300 and 'pro glass' or primes. I cringe at some of the earlier stuff. Partly due to kit but mainly me. I can pick many holes in them, whereas recent stuff is much better. I think we all do that, and in 4 years the stuff I shoot now will probably look poor!!
 
only a little
think since starting a little over 18 months ago, I've probably shot more than 5000 images
but i think the ones i really love out of that lot could be counted on a single hand easily.
 
I hate my own photos and very rarely share them and ofent when I do then decide I hate them and say as much. Mind you, I think I am just not a very good photographer at all. Oh well.
 
I do find looking back at some of my earliest digital stuff from 10 years back now, there's an innocence there which is actually refreshing, and a lot of them I like far more now than I did at the time.
You can over analyses and it can lead to a vicious circle of not taking pictures and losing your eye.
 
treeman said:
(y) Couldn't agree more.

Many times after coming back from a shoot, I've looked through the files and thought, yeah they're ok, could do better, shame I missed that, etc, etc.

And then the client chooses the images, they get printed big, framed, and you know what? That's when I think, I'm actually not too bad at this :)

But don't ever stop being critical of your own work, though at the same time don't let self doubt take over, it can be very destructive.

IMHO to succeed in this industry, confidence and belief in your self, is just as important as being a great photographer.
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What Mark said. To be any good you have to believe that you're mostly not good enough, otherwise you become complacent. And if you think you created your 'perfect' shot last week - do you give up or spend your time trying to recreate that? Surely it's healthier to try to improve on what you did last time.
 
I like enough of my work to keep learning with the goal of getting them a) more consistently good and b) more in line with whats in my head when I take them.

Typically pp around 1 in 20 at the moment, would love to shoot less but better :)

D
 
Sounds like the your not shooting to please yourself, rather shooting to create images to please others.
None of us can honestly say we are any good because we will only get better the more we shoot and unfortunately there will always be someone better than us, no matter what we do.
I used to photograph what i thought i should be. But recently i have been following my heart and not my head and my projects please me.
They have little to no value to anyone but myself, they are flawed, homebrew and perhaps a bit leftfield but i like them. perhaps one day my better work may be recognised who knows, who cares! Amateur whatever's should just enjoy their hobby and not worry about things too much
 
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Thanks for all the great responses. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

I didn't include it in the OP but I am getting better, I do use my constant self critique to figure out what I did wrong and how to be be better, so it does have its upside. I think I would rather undervalue myself than be complacent and not go anywhere.

I never print personal work, I hate it too much. And clients seem happy with the stuff I print for them, so that doesn't bother me.

I am really passionate about the process, the journey of photography, but it never takes long before I begin to pick holes and hate my results.

It all I was shooting was personal photography, I would have probably given up by now. But the fact that I'm getting the occasional complement and importantly payment for my work, (and this is ever increasing), means i don't have to look at the images over and over. I can shoot, get what the client wants, get paid and move on.

I just hope I can stay one step ahead of my inner critic and keep positive and progressing, rather than giving up and moaning about how awful I am.
 
Alastair said:
How many do you print or have printed?

It's very easy to be too critical of your own work on the screen, because on-screen images are a commodity. Get some of your work on paper and then judge your work.
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That is a big one for me,is to get them printed :)
 
I feel exactly the same but probably even worse than you do. I've spat the dummy out a few times and deleted everything, ranted on here and another forum, sold up, bought again etc etc. I love photography but hate my own stuff. I spend hours a week looking at other peoples amazing photos wishing mine would be as good and they never are so now I've stopped shooting again altogether. :shrug:
 
The vast majority of the pics I take get deleted at source!
I guess it's a consequence of being a 'hobby' amateur - I enjoy photography but I don't always get the opportunity to do a specific serious photographic project. As a result I end up taking pics because I want to engage in my hobby rather than because this is a super photo-opportunity.
I don't beat myself up about this situation I just continue to enjoy my hobby but with a (hopefully!) realistic sense of my ability.
 
I can think of 2 maybe 3 images I've taken since going DSLR that I actively like, that's about 2.5 years now. I want to get 1 printed big but it's an expensive game.

Pretty much everything else I either hate, or wish I'd done better.

A lot is gear limited, I can't afford very good gear so when an image is soft because I was at 300mm 5.6 on a cheap sigma and at 1600ISO on a 6 year old D50 I bugs me but there's not a lot I can do about it so have to lump it.

The rest I look at as a lack of talent or skill for failing to spot what sucked at the time I fired the shutter. Sadly I am very pessimistic about most things and especially so when it revolves around my personal skills.

None of this, however, stops me wanting to improve. Some encouragement would help here but I find that any images I shared are either ignored or just get lip service "nice image" type comments, so I pretty much don't bother with that any more.
 
I think that my work is "ok". I do get surprised when someone really likes a shot. Occasionally I really like a shot. However, in the same respect, I see a lot of pro togs in my local area that are hired by... well, pretty much everyone, there's only a handful of them here, and some photographers work I truly cringe at. I think everyone is going to be more critial about their own work though and find fault in anything.
 
maninsuitcase said:
Sadly I am very pessimistic about most things and especially so when it revolves around my personal skills.
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^ This for me too. I never used to be but now I am, it seems I am already defeated before I even begin!
 
Dear god what a depressing thread!

So some of you think that self loathing will make you a better photographer REALLY........

For people who make a living from photography I understand that being a better photographer gets more money in the bank so developing skills is an investment in a business.

Hobby photographers like me want to get better but are normally limited by time or money (in my case both). There is no specified learning curve for a hobby so take your time and see the positive side of what you do. I keep everything I take and post up the odd special pic on here normally to an overwhelming silence.

At my core I dont really give a crap what anyone else thinks but I dont get paid for my pictures. If I like what I produce then I am content that I have used my limited skill and budget as best I could.
 
Jocky said:
Dear god what a depressing thread!

So some of you think that self loathing will make you a better photographer REALLY.........
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I don't think that's what people are saying, I'm certainly not. What I am saying is that I'm not happy with the quality of my work, and it gets to me a bit at times.
 
If I didn't like my work I would stop taking photos, there not all keepers but I'm learning something with clicking
 
I agree with others here and struggle with images that I have taken. There are very few I like, but in the past I have sold a few so they can't be all that bad.

Consistency is the big issue along with time. If I went to a location on my own and had all day I reckon I could come away with lots of shots I am really happy with, but when you have kids in tow etc it gets a lot harder!

I am personally finding the trick is to just shoot, relax and enjoy it and be creative. Some things work others don't we have to learn from our kids to just go play :)
 
Much of what is being said sounds all so very familiar, and I've spent plenty of time castigating myself about how 'crap' I am. :bang:

But nowadays, no more. I've worked with some great people, enjoyed the process and very often enjoy the end result. :) It doesn't mean I'm not still trying to stay grounded. I know the stunning quality of other's work. I see some of the mistakes I make. I'll kick myself when I don't and someone else does. I can see where I should or want to improve and work better next time, but if I'd kept on disliking all my own stuff I'd have to wonder why on earth I was into photography?! :shrug: :D Just as Siilver said a few posts back. :cool:

Shooting what you enjoy helps as well. (y)
 
When you stop criticising you own work then its time to give up photography.

Realspeed
 
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