Perhaps this should be our adage as photographers:
Shoot it or lose it.
This means that our fitness as photographers relies on us shooting on a daily basis. Like exercising on a daily basis, or eating on a daily basis, being creative and artistic on a daily basis.
Like good Aristotle said — we perfect ourself and skills through our habits. So if we make shooting new photos (all day, everyday) our habit, certainly we can reach perfection in our photography!
1. Photography as an iterative process
It’s impossible to know what the “bestâ€photo will be when we’re out shooting. What we simply must do is keep shooting, experimenting, learning, and iterating our progress forward.
Iterate from the Latin “iterumâ€â€” which literally means “againâ€!
So in photography, shoot it again, again and again, and always improve the additional iteration!
As we continue to iterate and learn from each new photo, we improve!
2. Photographic fitness
With our muscles, if we didn’t walk everyday or physically exert ourselves everyday, or if we didn’t feel the effects of gravity everyday, our body and it’s muscles, bones, and sinews would quickly atrophy.
Thus we NEED the external challenges and stress of weight-bearing activities to keep our bodies strong. We also NEED the challenge of making new photos, new photo compositions and challenges to keep us artistically and photographically fit!
3. Every photo is an attempt and mini-experiment
Impossible to know what the photo will look like until you shoot it. When I’m shooting, I always experiment with the exposure-compensation and framing. Or I experiment between monochrome and color:
Or when you’re processing your photos, realize that every time you process your photos, they will look subtly different!
Or experiment with different distances:
4. The photos don’t need to be complicated
Just practice simple compositions! Practice looking for lines, shadows, and treat your photos like fun abstract sketches:
5. Keep your visual muscles and senses sharp.
Practice leads to perfection. The more we can practice and analyze our photos, the closer we march towards perfection in photography.
6. Simplify
What’s the best photo? To me, the simplest one.
