The curse of the photographer

Usually with me I look at all my images when I get home, and quite often I'm disappointed.
I put them away and go back to them after a few days and find that I'm liking them a lot more....
 
A part of me agrees and thinks, such is life... but often I think it doesn't matter, it's good enough and I have other things to worry about :D
 
I did not really resonate with this which seems too negative. Also he mentions going out every day etc. This is not practical for me anyway. I have in mind some particular shots I wish to take in South wales but in the last two years there have been long periods of travel restrictions. Last Autumn I saw a chance but the combination of weather and tide needed to be right. This combination never occurred and the Xmas period had different distractions. I will try again in the next few weeks. It is a nice thought that my best shots are still ahead but I have to be realistic in that I travel much less now and and have less energy. While not measuring everything by competition successes, I cannot but notice that I peaked in 2016. Anyway off to Slimbridge early next month with a different camera to last time I visited. I will enjoy the visit whether or not I capture any superb shots.
 
Resonates with me for sure. Whilst I can go out each time and know in some way shape or form I will come home with an image, BUT, always striving for more keeps me going. I wouldn't say I am dissatisfied, because I go out to be in locations, photos just happen to come as a bonus, but always striving for that better shot is within me.

I guess if we were happy with everything then it would become easy and then very, very boring.
 
For me I suppose I have come to realize that I need to lower my expectations. If I get a few photos in a year that I want to print and hang on the wall then it is a good year but given that I probably only get out for a dedicated photography session once a month at most then it is not a bad hit rate.

I agree with the video though, my best photos become my new baseline and it is the dissatisfaction that keeps me getting out and trying again. Also seeing other people's work inspires me to get out and try harder.
 
I think that managing our own expectations is the key to achieving satisfaction in any endeavour.

I just record the images that interest me and then later, sometimes much later, I decide which pictures to share with others. If even one person expresses an interest in that image, then I'm pleased.
 
sirch said:
This resonated with me

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfM2bR2p0Kw


how about you?
Click to expand...
I used to have this feeling sometimes and it did not inspire me to do more, it put me off. So I took a course for a year, asked all the questions about things that frustrated me, practised a lot and improved to overcome those frustrations. When I shoot now, I'm confident that I am properly prepared and will get the results planned. What inspires me much more is the satisfaction from achieving the results I plan and letting my imagination run wild thinking about how to best deliver the next project. A much happier place to be.
 
May be I am not normal for a photographer, but I feel none of that.
I simple enjoy taking photos.
When I shoot something, I like to feel that I have done the best that I could in the circumstances.
I have not the slightest pretentions to be an artist.
I just record what I see, that catches my eye, that is in the moment. That make a memory.

I also enjoy post processing. Not in a creative way, or even an extensive way. But to enhance the image to nearer the way that I saw it in the first place. I will remove blemishes even up uneven light, correct tonal values, and colour ballance. I will correct distortions, horizons and Verticals as appropriate. All the sort of things I would have done taking photographs and printing them in large format.

I also enjoy the technical side and the equipment, and learning new techniques.
Everything about photography is interesting.

I do not care in the slightest what other people think of my photographs. In days past I was just happy that customers bought them and came back to have more taken,. What ever that might have been. I would enjoy the process of learning what they needed and how best to achieve that, it was all interesting.

I have never been In the position of having to take photographs to create some elusive art.
Perhaps this is why I have never been disappointed.
 
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I can resonate with what he says. I often have doubts about the images I have created, and often dither about posting them online. Inevitably, or rather, most of the time, my fears are without foundation, but that doesn't help me the next time I am sitting in front of a finished image and wondering if it is good enough to share.
On those occasions I am really pleased with an image, and am proud to share it without any hesitation, then that becomes the height of the bar and previously accepted (by me) images suddenly become of uncertain quality...
 
The only thing I can conclude is that I don't want to go there. I've no pretentions, or aspirations to be an artist. Just so long as I've captured what I see in a composition I'm happy. It's like a meditative state. I don't do it for other people.
 
I used to feel like this all the time, but I "think" I've given up worrying, because I now realise, that strangely, producing a final image, or sharing photographs, isn't that important to me. Even, though I still have an underlying empathy with the sentiments expressed in the video.

I like the ritual of taking photographs, which adds greatly to my enjoyment and connection with nature, I like exploring how I can recreate and relive that connection at the processing stage and unlike many it would seem, I love digital processing as it offers control over colour images that just wasn't available in the film days. Even though I am still a black and white photographer deep down,

Since retiring, photography has dominated my life (as it used to do in my teens and twenties, when I worked as a photographer). Four out of the five days this week, I've been out with my camera in the mornings and on the computer in the afternoons.

But I am also fascinated by all things photographic. I'm currently reading Sean Tucker's "The meaning in the making" and David Bate's "Photography". I've just received, Vilem Flusser's "Towards a Philosophy of Photography" and just ordered Stephen Shores new book "Modern Instances: The craft of photography, a memoir".

Last week, I spent over 12 hours watching the recording of The Photographers Gallery 3 day online conference celebrating its 50th anniversary, and found the whole thing fascinating and enlightening.

The big change for me is that once upon a time my personal photographic interest was "all" about making fine prints. Today, while I haven't abandoned this idea (as well as building a blog and making zines), it's now only a small part of a much wider and deeper interest in photography, and I don't feel under the same pressure to make "great" photographs.

At least, I "think" this is how I currently feel about things.
 
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