{"id":72597,"date":"2017-12-10T03:07:57","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T11:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=72597"},"modified":"2017-12-10T03:27:40","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T11:27:40","slug":"the-ultimate-beginners-guide-to-mastering-photography-part-4-creative-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/10\/the-ultimate-beginners-guide-to-mastering-photography-part-4-creative-confidence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Beginner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Guide to Mastering Photography: Part 4. CREATIVE CONFIDENCE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 4: How to gain creative confidence in yourself as a photographer.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The difference between good and great photographers: having confidence in yourself.<\/p>\n

\n

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Photography<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

1. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care what others think of your photos<\/h2>\n
\"Cindy
Abstract. Cindy elevator, Dutch angle. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first thing to ask yourself to gain creative confidence:<\/p>\n

\n Do I like my own photos?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take photography too seriously<\/h2>\n
\"Photograph
Photograph of my leg, while lying in bed. Hotel Room. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The more I play around, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take my photography seriously, the more fun I have, and the more creative I am.<\/p>\n

3. Photography is experimentation<\/h2>\n
\"Danny
Danny with teeth. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You never know when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to get a good shot, so always experiment with your camera and tools, and treat yourself like a mad scientist with a camera.<\/p>\n

Try strange angles. Shoot from very low, tilt your camera, try the Dutch angle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A lot of photographers put too much pressure on themselves to always make good photos. In reality, you must treat every time you click the shutter as a mini experiment.<\/p>\n

You might have 1,000 failed photos and attempts. If you just get one good experiment and result, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done your job as a good scientist.<\/p>\n

Remember: your First Million photos are your worst<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Shoot yourself<\/h2>\n
\"Self
Self portrait. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The more I shoot myself, the more confidence I build to shoot others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shoot Yourself in the mirror, the bathroom, shoot your own shadow, and experiment with the exposure compensation.<\/p>\n

\"Selfie
Selfie in the mirror. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shoot pictures with -1 exposure compensation:<\/p>\n

\"Selfie
Minus 1 exposure compensation. Selfie with RICOH GR II. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shoot pictures with +1 exposure compensation:<\/p>\n

\"White
+1 exposure compensation. White ERIC KIM FACE. Selfie, Saigon 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Always have your camera around your neck, or ready to shoot:<\/p>\n

\"Saigon
My shadow. Saigon silhouette, hotel room selfie. 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even as a fun thing, give your camera to someone else, or even a kid to shoot you.<\/p>\n

\"Scary
Scary ERIC KIM. Shot by a 3 year old kid named Danny. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or just play fun jokes on yourself, like kisses in the mirror:<\/p>\n

\"Selfie
Selfie kiss. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And remember, you will have to make a lot of photos, to get even one decent shot:<\/p>\n

\"Contact
Contact sheet of Cindy in mirror in our hotel room. Saigon, 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Misfit
My life partner, companion, and fellow misfit. Cindy in Saigon hotel mirror.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5. Can you dance?<\/h2>\n
\"Cindy.
Cindy dancing with flower in our hotel lobby. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think the most confident artists are the ones who have the confidence to dance.<\/p>\n

We are all born dancers. We like to wiggle to the rhythm of the music. Yet, as we get older, we lose this ability \u00e2\u20ac\u201d because we fear what others think of us. We focus on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153looking cool\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than just having fun.<\/p>\n

\"Cindy.
Cindy with arms spread. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cindy
Cindy eye shadows. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Cindy bent elbow, dance. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Saigon,
Saigon, 2017 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Cindy
Cindy blur. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why dance? It is the ultimate way to just get lost in the flow of music, and making art with your body.<\/p>\n

Treat photography as dancing with your camera. Get lost in the drunken Dionysian dance of making images, painting with light, and using your gut<\/a> and intuition<\/a> to lead your photo making process.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n
\"Curve
Curve composition and Cindy hand. Saigon, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The more you shoot, the more confidence you will have.<\/p>\n

Also practical tip: post less to social media, and post more to your own website or blog.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make your own photography blog<\/a>, and you will have more freedom and flexibility to experiment, while caring less of what others think of your work.<\/p>\n

And if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really crazy (like me), don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother getting an Instagram. Or better yet, delete your Instagram<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u201d the ultimate form of creative confidence (owning your own platform).<\/p>\n

BE BOLD,
\nERIC<\/p>\n

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Photography<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 4: How to gain creative confidence in yourself as a photographer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/E3BDE51A-D890-4FB1-ACA8-CE2FE9611953.jpeg?fit=2000%2C1324&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72597"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72606,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72597\/revisions\/72606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}