At what stage are you?

[tirediron]

Anywhere from a 1 to a 5, depending on time of day, day of the week, and what I had for breakfast!

[Ads]

[unpopular]

I'm not really motivated by "Stage 5" criteria, I'm not interested in "jaw dropping". But i'm not going to lie and say that I don't seek out the approval of others (stage 6), but still, even though little I do is well received I continue the tangent I'm on. I don't feel what I do is "random" and I seldom do anything "beautiful" for the sake of beauty, if I do it's not meant to be taken seriously.

I don't think I'm stage 3, though sometimes I get a little carried away with the sharpening. I definitely don't think I'm stage 4. Technically I'm not at Stage 6, aesthetically I don't want to be.

I have no idea.

[Sw1tchFX]

I wouldn't agree about the HDR part. It's all a part of the skill and knowledge that one acquires and definitely doesn't mean that using a particular tool makes you less than the others.

Reading comprehension fail.

Personally I don't care for there "grading" system. I myself hate the concept of academic examinations ( spent 10 years doing that). It really doesn't mean anything, just a way for the lost souls to find some comfort knowing that they still relate to something somehow.

Good to see you are above a little self critique.

I feel sorry for all the lost souls that responded to this thread taking comfort in relating to something, somehow.
Look how little they are, connecting to generalized notions of personal photographic growth!

I can understand this argument, but it depends on the context. For the context of 99% of this forums activity, I think it's absolutely valid.

Truthfully, I wish I was a sophisticated enough individual and made such compelling, thought provoking work to be above a general 6-point grading system, but realistically i'm not. And neither is 99% of the users in this amateur-hour forum.

[unpopular]

I think overall, George Barr's self-grading system is more comprehensive and less specific to scenarios, style and techniques.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/next-level.shtml


With this criteria, I think I fit technical level 4D. As with the OP, a lot of Barr's definitions of aesthetics though don't mesh well with me.

[Bend The Light]

I'm a 1-2-3-4. No higher than 4, and not consistently 4. I have the odd flash of 4. More 3 than 4, really. More than 1 or 2.

I am the square root of the sum of the first 4 stages. Yes, 3.1622.

[Fred Berg]

I'm at the stage where it still makes my mouth water to hold a camera to my eye, and the days between when I drop a film off at the lab and getting the photos back continue to be amongst the longest.

[Solarflare]

Whow !

This link was a lot more entertaining than I expected.

Cant say which stage I'm on. For example, I'm still convinced photoshop is nothing I ever want to use.

Also, flower pictures -> extreme boredom (most of the time, anyway).

Well, I guess something low, but I dont know which.

I guess I can rule out stage 1 because I DO spot pictures in bad focus. I might keep them anyway, but I wouldnt put them into a portfolio if I would ever bother making one.

[Hobbytog]

For me intermediate. Photography technology seems to be evolving on a daily basis. I'm never going to keep up with it all and I know I'll never fully understand Photoshop.

[unpopular]

(http://youarenotaphotographer.com/wp...1/10/b2feF.png)

[Overread]

Somewhere between Technique and one exposure per motive - this I'm well into the "Darn it I suck" section

[unpopular]

I think I'm just starting to get beyond "darnnit I suck".

[rexbobcat]

I think it's generally accurate, but I think it kind of pigeonholes the type of photographer it's profiling.

I think a professional photo can be a piece of art, but a piece of art doesn't have to look professional.

Basically what I think is that a level 3 photog can be a great artist, while someone at level 5 might be a lousy one.

Some professionals can take amazing photos but they might be amazing in a generic way...

Some photographs I feel don'tt follow his criteria of a great photograph, but they just seem...intuitively good.

[slackercruster]

I'm a 3, 4, 5. But sometimes creep back to a #1

[slackercruster]

Give Yourself an Honest Portfolio Review


This was an interesting take on a photographers progress.
Asking at what stage you are, is rhetorical and you don't need to answer.
Instead just use it as a guide and give yourself a good hard look!

Yea, same thing with a pix that is not that good in color. But printed low key BW makes it A+. Same with freaked out HDR, jsut another technique. And even a reg BW that needs high or low key to make it fly. It wont stand on its own without technique.

[imagemaker46]

I'm a bored stage 6.