Tag: Learning

Letting Go of Comparison

Let Go of Comparison by Otto von Münchow

Remember what Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: “Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.”

Throughout our lives, forces can push us toward or away from reaching our creative potential: a teacher’s compliment, a parent’s tolerance for tinkering, or an environment that welcomes new ideas. What matters most in the end, though, is this: your belief in your capacity to creative positive change and the courage to take action. Creativity, far from requiring rare gifts and skills, depends on what you believe what you can do with the talents and skills you already have. And you can develop and build on those skills, talents, and beliefs. After all, Hungarian essayist György Konrád once said, “Courage is only accumulation of small steps.”

I started my photography journey in 1987 with a college course that included developing prints in a dark room (anyone remembers those?). I switched to digital in 1999, shooting on a Sony DSC-S70 point-and-shoot. I bought my first DSLR in 2006.

I have been working at this craft for over thirty years and though I can see that my skills have improved, I am just not happy with the results.

I often feel inadequate when I compare myself to other photographers such as David Cleland, Patrick LaRoque and Olaf himself. I know it’s a destructive and discouraging habit. Somewhere in the back of my mind, there is a voice saying “You’ve been at this for a long time. Why are you stil producing this crap?”.

Olaf’s blog post left me with much to ponder. I shall be doing some intense introspection this week to find ways to slay this “monster”.

The Feedback Fallacy

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If you’re a human being and you’ve ever given or received feedback, read this humdinger of a Harvard Business Review article. This is the second article on feedback that I have read this week. Would love to have a dialogue about this.

My favourite part of the article is this one paragraph.

... although science has long since proven that we are colour-blind, in the business world we assume we’re clear-eyed. Deep down we don’t think we make very many errors at all. We think we’re reliable raters of others. We think we’re a source of truth. We aren’t. We’re a source of error.

Emphasis mine.

Photography 101

Finally! A Photography 101 Course I Can Recommend by CJ Chilvers (CJ Chilvers)

Most mainstream photography courses focus on what matters to professional photographers and ignore the 99.9% of us who are hobbyists. Their advice is misguided at best, and scammy at worst.

C.J. writes with a tone that makes it seem like he hates professional photographers. Who writes about photography and gives advice but has no online portfolio? I think he lacks credibility. One more to remove from my RSS feeds. Forget the online course he recommended. Go take an in-person course like one from Princeton Photo Workshop with a live in-person instructor. There has to be one somewhere in your town. You'll get hands-on instruction and learn in the field. If you have an Apple Store near you, you can take an iPhone photography course for free or go on a photowalk.

Whatever you do, don't sit in front of a computer screen to learn photography. Grab a camera and got out and take some pictures.

The examples used are examples actual hobbyists might encounter, which is rare in a photography course. But most of all, I’ll recommend this to beginners because it comes from a trusted source: Shawn Blanc.

Because they are part of a small clique of friends who recommend each other's shit. Closed loop. Not objective.