Challenge, Innovation, and Fun: How to Progress in Your Photography and Life:

How do you know if you’re making progress (going forward), advancing, or developing, or walking forward or going the right path, or forward in your photography and life?

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First of all, let’s examine the word “progress”; the etymology (root and history) behind the word. According to wiktionary, progress means:

From Old French progres (“a going forward”), from Latin prōgressus (“an advance”), from the participle stem of prōgredī (“to go forward, advance, develop”), from pro- (“forth, before”)+ gradi (“to walk, go”).

So process can mean:
1. Going forward
2. Advancing forward
3. Developing
4. Walking forth

The opposite of progress is to regress; which is to go backwards, to step back, to devolve; to essentially go the opposite direction of going forward.

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So when seen in the lens of photography, what we desire is to go forward, to advance, to walk forward, and to develop our photography.

But what does that really mean?

I think in a basic way, we want to see ourselves “level up”. For example if we were playing a video game, we start at level 0, and we get great joy seeing our experience points accumulate and seeing ourselves grow/advance/progress in levels, to gain a new level (the joy from level 0-10), and to perhaps one day reach level 99!

But what do you do once you reach level 99?

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Not that many people ever reach level 99, so it is a “pipe dream” for many (the irrational dreams that opium pipe smokers would get).

A lot of us in life fantasize about becoming level 99. We imagine how happy we will be once we have all the weapons, tools, equipment, armor, transportation vehicles, gold, and other attributes that come with level 99. But the reality? Once you’re level 99, it actually becomes a little more depressing or boring. Why? Because you have nothing further to accomplish, reach for, or to advance to!

Well, the good thing is that real life ain’t a video game. Unfortunately a lot of us still want to “keep track” or to “quantify” our progress in life. For example, we track our salary, our career advancements, certain society-marker stones or milestones, or external markers to give us a sense of joy.

But friend; let me share with you: I think this isn’t a good path to go down. Why? You will always be a slave to the opinion of others. You won’t be able to judge your progress in life according to your own ruler, your own yardstick, or to set your own milestone markers in life.

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Let’s say Vincent van Gogh were alive today, and around 40 years old. Let’s say he still has the paintings he painted when he was (really) alive.

Let’s say Van Gogh had an Instagram, but only had 1,000 followers. And let’s say he worked as a batista at Starbucks, and lived in his mom’s basement, yet still painted the same paintings he is famous for. Would that make him any less “successful” or his artwork any less valuable or beautiful?

Vivian Maier was practically unknown for her photography while she was still alive. How did she know she was making “progress” in her photography, if she didn’t make money from photography, if she didn’t see she was getting more “likes” and followers, and if she wasn’t winning awards, having solo exhibitions, getting published, or getting book deals?

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I think the secret is this: don’t worry so much whether you’re making “progress” or not in your photography or life. Instead, my suggestion is this: ask yourself,

“Am I challenging myself, am I innovating in my visual artistry, and am I having fun in the process?”

I think those three things are the key to your continual evolution as a photographer and visual artist:

1. Never stop challenging yourself (avoid boredom or things which are too easy)
2. Never stop innovating (don’t just do the same old thing, over and over again, and repeat yourself to death out of boredom)
3. Never stop having fun: Naturally, we only have fun when we are being challenged, when we are working on something interesting to us, when we are following our own curiosity in life

Once again:

1. Challenge
2. Innovation
3. Fun

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1. Challenge: Challenge yourself by taking bigger risks, by attempting more ambitious and edgy compositions, and by trying things which are more difficult and interesting to you. With photography, shoot with a flash, get closer, use a wider angle lens (24mm or 28mm), add layers and depth.
2. Innovation: Innovate as a visual artist by presenting your work in new and novel ways, like how I’m publishing PDF EBOOKS of my photography projects designed in iBooks author. Also I feel I’m innovating more in my photography by getting more into film, video, and cinema. Seeing from the perspective of a film director has helped me tremendously with my visual storytelling. By not just posting photos to Instagram (the obvious, and less innovative approach).
3. Fun: Asking myself, “If nobody else ever saw my photos, would I still shoot them?” Children like to have fun for the sake of it, regardless if they’re being observed or not. You don’t have to bribe a kid with money to have fun on the swings or the jungle gym, or draw pictures with crayons. They do it for fun!

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Why do you care what other people think?

Honest question: Why do you care what other people think of your photos; whether they like your photos or not, if you like your own photos?

Or in other words,

If you like your own photos, if others don’t like your photos, does that make you like your own photos less? Or do you question your own self-judgment or assement of your pictures?

Let’s paint a scenario:

Scenario A:

Let’s say you took a photograph you really like. You think it’s one of your best, and just a great photograph in general. According to your own estimate, the photograph is a 9/10 in terms of composition, framing, emotion, storytelling, aesthetics, etc.

But then you show it to a famous photographer or photography critic, and they judge it a 4/10.

After this, does your own rating of a photograph drop to a 6/10, because the other photographer/critic/judge has an objectively better taste than you?

My idea: We only care about the opinion of other photographers or art critics if we don’t self-esteem our own artistry, aesthetic taste, and if we doubt ourselves.

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Judge yourself

My suggestion: Don’t let the judgment of others cloud your own judgment. Honestly there’s no “good” or “bad” in visual art. It all comes down to subjective taste.

Which makes me ask you,

Do you know what your own aesthetic taste is?

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What flavor ice cream do you like?

So let’s go deeper down this philosophical rabbit hole.

Ask yourself,

Do I know what flavor ice cream I like? And if so, if someone else doesn’t like the same flavor ice cream as me, does that make my own taste somehow invalid?

For example, let’s say you like vanilla ice cream. If all the ice cream critics in the world said that vanilla sucked, and only chocolate ice cream was legitimate, would that mean you’re an idiot, stupid, uneducated, or have poor taste?

Ultimate takeaway: Cultivate your own taste, and see if your photos are visually nourishing yourself!

JUST SHOOT IT.
ERIC

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