Photographers that taunt you

All of them.

Agreed. :lol:

It depends on the day and my mood, but especially recently when I've been dealing with some... internal... emotional and mental turmoil, I've been having this weird mix of, "God I should just quit, why am I even trying/wow this really inspires me" every time I see someone's work, or a concept that I love. It's never one emotion or the other, this this odd mix of both, that I can't really suss out.

There are plenty of people out in the world that I admire that I don't know that make me feel this way, but my one friend makes me feel this way like... daily. Every time we work together, or he posts something new. I think more than his skill in general, I'm more jealous of how creative he is and frustrated at my own lack of creativity.

I can shoot. I can make things pretty. But I'm starting to feel like everything I do is all very vanilla and I hate it.
 
First off to shoot like Alex you will need a 35mm prime lens thats what he mostly uses on a Leica but is given lots of different cameras to use and review
 
Lara Jade and Michael Thompson. Both are huge inspirations for me, and I feel like following their work so closely helped me develop a personal style of my own that I really like. That said, I envy them because they are where I want to be in my career, and I want it now. That comes with time though; I've rarely heard of a photographer who hasn't had to work their ass off in order to be getting those high budget shoots that will without a doubt get published in iconic magazines. I will be there one day though, that is for certain. Unless I go blind or die or something horrendous and dramatic.

If I may make a comment on something you said:
"Like there are times when I just think "if I tried to put any of these ideas into play in my own photography, disaster would only ensue, I just simply can't do this type of thing." .
You really have to get rid of any of that sort of thinking. You really have to believe that the things you want are going to happen, and that's how you will make them happen. I doubt Alex Webb always took amazing photos. You may think you suck at making a certain level of photograph, and you probably will the first few times you attempt something similar to an Alex Webb photo, but eventually you should get the hang of it.
 
All of them.

Agreed. :lol:

It depends on the day and my mood, but especially recently when I've been dealing with some... internal... emotional and mental turmoil, I've been having this weird mix of, "God I should just quit, why am I even trying/wow this really inspires me" every time I see someone's work, or a concept that I love. It's never one emotion or the other, this this odd mix of both, that I can't really suss out.

There are plenty of people out in the world that I admire that I don't know that make me feel this way, but my one friend makes me feel this way like... daily. Every time we work together, or he posts something new. I think more than his skill in general, I'm more jealous of how creative he is and frustrated at my own lack of creativity.

I can shoot. I can make things pretty. But I'm starting to feel like everything I do is all very vanilla and I hate it.
I think to produce great work, it is necessary but not sufficient that you be painfully self aware. This has the unfortunate side effect of near constant self doubt.

If you truly, deep down, never doubted your work, you probably wouldn't be very good, IMHO.

FWIW, I think your work is very good. And I know for a fact that the way your friend (unintentionally) makes you feel is the same way you (unintentionally) make a lot of photographers here feel.

Also there wasn't an appropriate response icon, "like" and "agree" didn't seem right. I wanted to give you a "know How you feel" haha.
 
Braineac taunts me sometimes about my flat lighting style, but that's about it. :cool-48:

I cant say I really "study" any particular photographer, but I do research ways different people light and pose subjects, which helps me develop how I want to light and pose subjects. Sometimes it works out, sometimes, eh, not so much. But ive never been afraid to try something twice.
 
Taunt is not a term I'd use but Bill Brandt's work fascinates.
 
There are different levels of studying things...there is the CliffsNotes (note the new spelling! CliffsNotes - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia version of studying, and there is the live-breathe-and-dream-about-it degree of absorption and dedication. There's also the, "Hey, can we meet and I can mooch off of your notes?" level, and so on. Paying attention to things; imitating and trying a few things out; modeling one's work after a certain person; and flat-out cribbing ,recreating, or copying...there, there's four different degrees of studying and putting things into practice.

I do not think that studying other photographers is a good thing or a bad thing. At worst, it leads to imitating the work of others at the expense of developing your own style and vision. At best, it can help motivate or inspire. Of course, everybody is different.

There's no one right answer. I studied the work of the master photographers of the 20th century for the first 20 years I was interested in photography, but since the development of the web, have spent less time studying other people. What they do and what I do, their world and my world, their living space and mine, all those things are so,so different. I can't be anybody but me; their motivation can not be the same as mine. For me, I don't see much point beyond Level 1 studying, which is "Paying attention to things". I do not want to imitate other people...I can't, and if I tried, it would just be dishonest and fraudulent. I could study Bill Joel's voice strategies, or Elton John's, or Steven Tyler's vocal techniques...it's not gonna do a damned bit of good. I can never become any of those people. Same with writing, or photography, or acting; some pursuits are based on individuality, not conformity or imitation or becoming a disciple of some guru.

We already have the world's largest collection of imitators and frauds and copycats ever to have been assembled in the history of photography. It's called 500px. Look around...tens of thousands clone troopers.
 
I think the last time I was taunted was when, in grade 6 we had a photography show-and-tell, I brought in a snapshot of a squirrel and Heather Groves (the hot girl in that class), dismissively told me that I need a better camera. That hurt. A lot. Mostly because I had a crush on Heather. She was right about the camera.
 
I think to produce great work, it is necessary but not sufficient that you be painfully self aware. This has the unfortunate side effect of near constant self doubt.

If you truly, deep down, never doubted your work, you probably wouldn't be very good, IMHO.

FWIW, I think your work is very good. And I know for a fact that the way your friend (unintentionally) makes you feel is the same way you (unintentionally) make a lot of photographers here feel.

Also there wasn't an appropriate response icon, "like" and "agree" didn't seem right. I wanted to give you a "know How you feel" haha.

IMO, the difference between the successful and the student is confidence. If you are concerned about self doubt, you are concerned about doing something in the manner of someone else. Of being judged by their work and not your own. Basically, you are digging in the same garden someone else already cleared and made productive.

You are not someone else in some other situation. Listen to any musician you feel is "great". They take command of the stage as they walk out without a shred of self doubt. I often think of the three member group The Cream. Composed of three absolutely fabulous musicians, the group created a new musical direction for rock music. When they first began they say they knew about six songs they could play together but they were expected to play concerts. So they improvised and in the process created extended solos where they had never existed before. The 18 bar blues became the 18 minute solo. They used musical forms which had never been put together in the same way before. They listened and they communicated their ideas and their direction for every song while, in the beginning at least, they admired each other's talents. What they created came from within their own individual head. From their lead many imitators have made lots of money.

Not every player can be a Clapton, Bruce or Baker. Such players are hearing things you and I don't understand and wouldn't comprehend if we were confronted with them. Now, though, comprehending how Clapton structures his solos is second nature and many players try to imitate his playing technique. The one thing I find most annoying in an Elvis imitator. They have a formula from which they dare not stray.

I have a good friend who is a fabulous guitarist IMO. He simply plays with confidence that what he is about to do is right. He's not concerned about what others are doing. He's fully cognizant of what has come before and uses his knowledge of the past to create something new and free. He hears music in his mind I can only hope to understand. He has his own style and I have my own. He doesn't haunt me or taunt me. We play differently. But I can easily say, he has far more confidence in what he can accomplish than I do. One day I hope to have that same level of confidence.

Until you develop confidence in your own abilities and that your decisions are right, you will never develop your own style and you will never develop the greatest extent of confidence required to simply do the job. If you are always looking back, you don't have time to look forward. If you aren't looking forward, then you are only doing what others have already accomplished. That's OK, I suppose, if all you ever want to be in another in a long line of Elvis impersonators.

Beyond that, be open to what you find today and be willing to change course at a moment's notice. Times change. Situations change. If you are so convinced you are always right, you will miss what comes next.
 
I think to produce great work, it is necessary but not sufficient that you be painfully self aware. This has the unfortunate side effect of near constant self doubt.

If you truly, deep down, never doubted your work, you probably wouldn't be very good, IMHO.

FWIW, I think your work is very good. And I know for a fact that the way your friend (unintentionally) makes you feel is the same way you (unintentionally) make a lot of photographers here feel.

Also there wasn't an appropriate response icon, "like" and "agree" didn't seem right. I wanted to give you a "know How you feel" haha.

IMO, the difference between the successful and the student is confidence. If you are concerned about self doubt, you are concerned about doing something in the manner of someone else. Of being judged by their work and not your own. Basically, you are digging in the same garden someone else already cleared.

You are not someone else in some other situation. Listen to any musician you feel is "great". They take command of the stage as they walk out without a shred of self doubt. I often think of the three member group The Cream. Composed of three absolutely fabulous musicians, the group created a new musical direction for rock music. When they first began they say they knew about six songs they could play together but they were expected to play concerts. So they improvised and in the process created extended solos where they had never existed before. The 18 bar blues became the 18 minute solo. They used musical forms which had never been put together in the same way before. They listened and they communicated their ideas and their direction for every song while, in the beginning at least, they admired each other's talents. What they created came from within their own individual head. From their lead many imitators have made lots of money.

Not every player can be a Clapton, Bruce or Baker. Such players are hearing things you and I don't understand and wouldn't comprehend if we were confronted with them. Now, though, comprehending how Clapton structures his solos is second nature and many players try to imitate his playing technique. The one thing I find most annoying in an Elvis imitator. They have a formula from which they dare not stray.

I have a good friend who is a fabulous guitarist IMO. He simply plays with confidence that what he is about to do is right. He's not concerned about what others are doing. He's fully cognizant of what has come before and uses his knowledge of the past to create something new and free. He hears music in his mind I can only hope to understand. He has his own style and I have my own. He doesn't haunt me or taunt me. We play differently. But I can easily say, he has far more confidence in what he can accomplish than I do. One day I hope to have that same level of confidence.

Until you develop confidence in your own abilities and that your decisions are right, you will never develop your own style and you will never develop the greatest extent of confidence required to simply do the job. If you are always looking back, you don't have time to look forward. If you aren't looking forward, then you are only doing what others have already accomplished. That's OK, I suppose, if all you ever want to be in another in a long line of Elvis impersonators.

Beyond that, be open to what you find today and be willing to change course at a moment's notice. Times change. Situations change. If you are so convinced you are always right, you will miss what comes next.
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But Jimi Hendrix confessed to being constantly riddled with self doubt, despite being the greatest guitarist in the world. I've talked to Al Di Meola before and he said that he doubts himself all the time. Heck, James Brown was the most insanely self-confident individual I had ever met, and he still fell well short of your "complete self-confidence" paragon. Michael Jackson, constantly doubted himself. Christina Aguilera often doubts her abilities. Sean Costello had so many doubts and demons about his playing that he committed suicide, despite being recognized as one of the best, most original contemporary blues guitarists in the world. Kurt Cobain had all sorts of self doubts. Keith Jarret, despite being a mostly pompous jerk still only thinks he has produced one very good album, despite being widely considered the greatest improvisational musician in the world.

Self-confidence is surely a great thing, but I think if you also don't have some measure of self-doubt, you either aren't being honest about yourself, or you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. People who are supremely self-confident always are usually more of a dunning-kruger effect than actually ultra-talented. Often the most talented individuals got there by being the most self-aware and the harshest self critics.
 
Also to clarify the original post, I'm not talking about wanting to copy a photographer's style, per se, more about being able to pull off some of the stuff they do. Like I don't want to ape Alex Webb, but it would be nice to be able to pull off a picture with this much going on, and have it still hold up compositionally and not descend into chaos.
 
"Heck, James Brown was the most insanely self-confident individual I had ever met, and he still fell well short of your 'complete self-confidence' paragon."

You are completely misunderstanding self doubt. Also, why is it that you are so argumentative? Do you want to be insecure? Seems you do. Why can't you simply take some advice? Because you simply want to be riddled with self doubt? You want to be right but you also want to be filled with uncertainty. I'm no psychologist, but I see a problem in that mindset. Not a criticism, or being snarky. You need to turn each comment on its head. Where is that going to get you? No where. People you mention are famous because they went out and did. Not because they sat and tried to work every angle to their advantage. Who sits and argues incessantly? People you've never heard of. Just go out and do something!

Many performers are filled and even overcome by "stage fright". Entire books have been written about the fears many performers experience just as they are about to walk on stage. Musician's forums are packed with questions regarding how to overcome stage fright. Stage fright is what occurs just before you go on stage. It's not what you experience while you are performing. A mental switch is thrown and the fear becomes the drive. Did James Brown and Hendrix not walk on stage with the confidence they were about to do their best? Once their foot hit the stage, their fears were what fed their performance. Maybe you need a lesson in how to make stage fright work for you and not against you.

Yes, Clapton himself was terribly uncertain about his playing, until he heard Hendrix play. Then he realized his direction and though he continued to evolve he had his head in the right place. He saw a direction and he followed it. He didn't try to be a Hendrix impersonator because that would have been impossible for Clapton to do. But he took a lesson from Hendrix, he understood Hendrix and from that he developed a sound and a style of his own. He wasn't taunted by Hendrix, we has moved by Hendrix. He was insecure about his vocal performance until he began singing his own material. He was not crippled by insecurity, he was driven by insecurity. Someone said, "Do it", and he did it. You need, IMO, to understand the difference.

I can simply guarantee you that if you are doing your job - your performance - and you are not certain what you are doing is the best work you can ever do, then you will fail. If you are not in the moment of doing the work, then you will never achieve much by always thinking you can't do the work. Or always thinking about what someone else might have done. This idea of self doubt is what you have between performances. They and their accomplishments are your stepping stones to what will make you better, not your ball and chain to hold you back from running with your ideas.

Always ask yourself, what could I have done better? Why did I make that decision at that point? What would have been different if I had done so and so? That is the development of progress. Those are the inner dialogues you have with yourself. Those are all healthy and useful questions. The driven performer works on those in between performances. Trying new techniques and ideas. Working out how to refine what they know into a second nature instinct.

The insecurities have nothing to do with actual performance.

When you are performing, you forget all the things you've worried about as they become second nature for you to do. And that inner dialogue is what you learn to use to drive you to better performances. If you are only repeating what you have already done or what someone else has already done, then, where is your progress?

Possibly, you could benefit from reading how famous performers used their insecurities to their advantage and not to their disadvantage.
 
Pretty much every other photographer for me.

Generally speaking, I learn by seeing and doing, or in this case, seeing and trying to replicate. Getting to the point where I could replicate a photographer's photo (whether lighting, style, post-processing, composition, or whatnot), I would likely/hopefully increase my understanding just a tiny bit through the process of replication. Repeat that a bunch of times, and I may learn something. I'm not saying that I would copy, but learn via replication.

That's my take on it, anyways.
 
"Heck, James Brown was the most insanely self-confident individual I had ever met, and he still fell well short of your 'complete self-confidence' paragon."

You are completely misunderstanding self doubt. Also, why is it that you are so argumentative? Do you want to be insecure? Seems you do. Why can't you simply take some advice? Because you simply want to be riddled with self doubt? You want to be right but you also want to be filled with uncertainty. I'm no psychologist, but I see a problem in that mindset. Not a criticism, or being snarky. You need to turn each comment on its head. Where is that going to get you? No where. People you mention are famous because they went out and did. Not because they sat and tried to work every angle to their advantage. Who sits and argues incessantly? People you've never heard of. Just go out and do something!

Many performers are filled and even overcome by "stage fright". Entire books have been written about the fears many performers experience just as they are about to walk on stage. Musician's forums are packed with questions regarding how to overcome stage fright. Stage fright is what occurs just before you go on stage. It's not what you experience while you are performing. A mental switch is thrown and the fear becomes the drive. Did James Brown and Hendrix not walk on stage with the confidence they were about to do their best? Once their foot hit the stage, their fears were what fed their performance. Maybe you need a lesson in how to make stage fright work for you and not against you.

Yes, Clapton himself was terribly uncertain about his playing, until he heard Hendrix play. Then he realized his direction and though he continued to evolve he had his head in the right place. He saw a direction and he followed it. He didn't try to be a Hendrix impersonator because that would have been impossible for Clapton to do. But he took a lesson from Hendrix, he understood Hendrix and from that he developed a sound and a style of his own. He wasn't taunted by Hendrix, we has moved by Hendrix. He was insecure about his vocal performance until he began singing his own material. He was not crippled by insecurity, he was driven by insecurity. Someone said, "Do it", and he did it. You need, IMO, to understand the difference.

I can simply guarantee you that if you are doing your job - your performance - and you are not certain what you are doing is the best work you can ever do, then you will fail. If you are not in the moment of doing the work, then you will never achieve much by always thinking you can't do the work. Or always thinking about what someone else might have done. This idea of self doubt is what you have between performances. They and their accomplishments are your stepping stones to what will make you better, not your ball and chain to hold you back from running with your ideas.

Always ask yourself, what could I have done better? Why did I make that decision at that point? What would have been different if I had done so and so? That is the development of progress. Those are the inner dialogues you have with yourself. Those are all healthy and useful questions. The driven performer works on those in between performances. Trying new techniques and ideas. Working out how to refine what they know into a second nature instinct.

The insecurities have nothing to do with actual performance.

When you are performing, you forget all the things you've worried about as they become second nature for you to do. And that inner dialogue is what you learn to use to drive you to better performances. If you are only repeating what you have already done or what someone else has already done, then, where is your progress?

Possibly, you could benefit from reading how famous performers used their insecurities to their advantage and not to their disadvantage.
You're the one who tried to respond to me encouraging another photographer who is incredibly talented but doubts herself sometimes. You're the one who started arguing with me.

You are the one getting angsty because I disagreed with you and telling me to go out and do something while writing like 5000 words where you attempt to psychoanalyze somebody you've never met.

Also you're really using Eric Clapton as a model of not having self doubt to help achieve fame? A guy who claims to have been driven to heroin addiction to, in part, cope with self doubt? You also simultaneously claim Clapton had a ton of self doubt until he met Hendrix and you can't succeed with self doubt. Eric Clapton was considered the greatest guitarist in the world before he met Hendrix.
 
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