The more I learn, the less I shoot.

[sashbar]

Focus:

Like a professional athlete, I think the best work is done when one focuses on one specific subject.
Forget shooting everything.
It takes waaaaay too much concentration to get the most out of the one thing you can do - and then thinking about some others avenues also, nope doesn't work for me.

I don't shoot birds, landscapes, Nature; all that not for me.

If I'm lucky my hit rate is 1 or 2 decent photos if I shoot for an entire morning.
I shoot best away from home, so I go into NYC or into Baltimore and I try new areas, trying to work those places.

I'm lucky in that I've settled on what I like and know how to go about it.
Figure out what you can do and how you can find the time and space - and then do it.
It's no good deciding you want to be a street photographer but you live out in the country and you have 7 or 8 kids shackled to your ankles.

Find what you can do that you like to do.
Don't worry about success, worry about doing it well.

That is a great advice, very well put.

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

Jazzed, I am far from a pro, but one thing keeps going through my brain. I work 65-70 hrs a week plus a 2 hr drive one way to work. I never take my equipment with me because I don't want it stolen. I get out when my chores are done. I have a true passion to get great images. This forum fills my need for knowledge so that when I can get out I can put it to practice. Find your passion and you will grow in leaps and bounds. Don't give up

 

[JustJazzie]

Focus:

Like a professional athlete, I think the best work is done when one focuses on one specific subject.
Forget shooting everything.
It takes waaaaay too much concentration to get the most out of the one thing you can do - and then thinking about some others avenues also, nope doesn't work for me.

I don't shoot birds, landscapes, Nature; all that not for me.

If I'm lucky my hit rate is 1 or 2 decent photos if I shoot for an entire morning.
I shoot best away from home, so I go into NYC or into Baltimore and I try new areas, trying to work those places.

I'm lucky in that I've settled on what I like and know how to go about it.
Figure out what you can do and how you can find the time and space - and then do it.
It's no good deciding you want to be a street photographer but you live out in the country and you have 7 or 8 kids shackled to your ankles.

Find what you can do that you like to do.
Don't worry about success, worry about doing it well.

Great advice. Street photography definitely isn't for me. Crowds intimidate me. Haha. I think I might die of a panic attack if you stuck my on a NYC street.

I LOVE portriat work, making the time for it during the day and finding models willing to committ seems Impossible at this point in time. The easiest time of day to squeeze it in is after the kids are out for the night.

Perhaps I should focus on water drops for now, I DO enjoy that, and the subject never cancels at the last minuet. ;-) just gotta figure out how to improve my manual timing.

Jazzed, I am far from a pro, but one thing keeps going through my brain. I work 65-70 hrs a week plus a 2 hr drive one way to work. I never take my equipment with me because I don't want it stolen. I get out when my chores are done. I have a true passion to get great images. This forum fills my need for knowledge so that when I can get out I can put it to practice. Find your passion and you will grow in leaps and bounds. Don't give up

oh, I promise I won't give up! I've been behind a viewfinder since I was 9ish. This forum is definitely great for knowledge. But really, my head is so full of information and I'm ready to USE it! Haha, hopefully it's still around when I need it.

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

Jazzie, since portraiture is your goal, try this. I know it may sound silly but here goes. Go to your local hobby store and buy a foam head, skin toe spray paint, and a wig. Use hats, sunglasses etc. practice your lighting and shoot when you can. I have no interest in portraiture because I am a sales / finance mgr in the auto business and I talk to people all day long and I find it relaxing to be alone for a change.

 

[weepete]

I wouldn't worry about it.

I went through a pretty similar thing recently where I just couldn't get either the foreground or light right. So rather than take a photo I would be unhappy with I passed up the oppertunity all together. I think I am now judging lighting conditions a little better so I've had a small increase in the number of shots I take. I also stopped taking the extra shots "just in case" a while ago now, prefering to take a single shot for each composition (the exception being for multiple exposures for HDR). Just about the only time I take a second shot with the same framing would be if I thought my tripod moved. I'm also much more likely to abandon a shot if I can't get the framing or compostion I want.

On the last night of a recent photography workshop we had a cracking sunset after dinner, we'd been waiting all week for one to appear but it had failed to materialise. I chose not to shoot it, because sometimes just being there and enjoying life is more important.

 

[mmaria]

I was/am in the same or at least similar situation.
A full time job and two toddlers. My time off is when they're sleeping but when that time come I'm so tired and drained and I can't wait just to lay down a bit...

So... What do I do?

- I'm not carrying my camera almost anywhere
- I'm taking photographs with my mind, as if I had my camera with me (it really really helps because, among else, you realize how rare opportunities to take a good photograph are)
- In rare occasions when I have an hour or two I take a good picture (good, really!?) because I know what I want to capture and where I want to go during that time


Plan ahead, think about photography... Photography isn't just having the camera in your hands.

Anyway... hope I said something helpful

 

[robbins.photo]

Woah there! I just made DH invest in fancy dishes for me. I couldn't possibly switch to paper plates now! But if I ditched the kids, I would have half the dishes..... I haven't seen many wolves around here. We have bears, coyotes, deer and elk....will any of those do??

Well, I wouldn't recommend having them raised by deer or elk, we have more than enough people who go along with the herd as it is, we really don't need any more of that.

Coyotes I also wouldn't recommend, unless you want them buying everything from Acme and going through life making incredibly complex plans that are doomed to fail from the outset.

Bears.. well, that might work. As long as their not of the Chicago variety. If nothing else the kids would learn how to fish. So that would be a win win.

As for the fancy plates, you take them out, set the table, let everyone ooh and ahh and then when your ready to serve drop a paper plate on top of them. Once it's covered with food it's not like anyone will notice anyway right?

See.. I'm a problem solver.. lol

 

[JoeW]

Good thread with a number of very good thoughts and tips. Let me add to the clutter with my own mental wonderings.

1. Art isn't easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it and doing it well. So your first error is to look at your previously inexperienced naiveté, look at your now wisdom and conclude "gee, it used to be fun and now it isn't." Well, part of the reason it was fun was b/c you had no standards (or lower standards) before and that has changed. So you've got to find a way to not let your wisdom and standards paralyze you. But besides from that point, the reality is that good art (when it happens consistently) is the result of a lot of hard work combined with a lot of insight and skill.

2. Yes, you have a lot of obstacles in your life. That's part of what makes good photography (and good art) personally satisfying many times--b/c you know what you had to go through to get that shot. You hiked for 2 hours, did an elevation climb of 900 feet that involved some hand-over-hand, waited out the rainstorm and then captured the photo of the rainbow over the waterfall. You planned it, you timed it perfectly, you showed patience, you sweated, and then you had the skill and trained perception to craft the shot. Or maybe it's the shot of your youngest asleep curled up with the cat. It wasn't just synchronicity. You had your camera near by, loaded and charged. You knew something like this might happen (the cat had just eaten, you little one always naps at this time). You noticed the golden light coming in. You had only a few quick shots to grab this lovely image so you had minimal setup time, few "do-overs" and no chance of a speed light (which would scatter the cat). And you had the skill to be able to manipulate your shutter speed, ISO, and aperture to get a good enough exposure in dynamic light.

3. I think you're making the mistake (inadvertently) of concluding "I've got my equipment, I've learned a lot more, so now I should be taking much better pictures." That's like the middle school violinist who says "I've got a better violin, I've been practicing for 4 years now, I take lessons, and I'm much wiser about music....why aren't I performing with the National Symphony now?" It's not just a learning curve, it's a performance curve. It isn't slow and steady. But it also doesn't start low (enthusiastic but ignorant beginner) and suddenly rocket to the top. Back in the film days, National Geographic would give one of their shooters 10 rolls of film (approximately 360 frames) and tell them: bring back 10 keepers. That's an awful lot of rejects. I'm not arguing for spray and pray. I'm saying that even great artists have a lot of stuff they look at and go "WTF? What was I thinking?"

4. You want to craft great art? Fine--aim for that. But in the meantime, use your knowledge to build your craft and skills. Give yourself a set of assignments (do a photo a day challenge and put it up on a blog where you post the photo with 2-3 sentences about what worked (or didn't), what you learned about it. You might get 3 viewers (2 of them being ex-college roomies or neighbors). Doesn't matter. You're building your technique and skills and vision. You don't want to shoot flowers in the park? Then don't shoot flowers. You say you want to focus (no pun intended) on portraits? So work with your kids or the dog and practice portraits. Invite a neighbor over for coffee and while she's there, ask her to sit for you. And this is not to be instantly great. But it's to continually improve your game, piece by piece. You can start by playing with DoF indoors. Then outdoors. Give the kids props (so they have something to do with their hands) and see what works. Do "goofy portraits" (I do this with kids--especially groups, we'll do the formal pompous stuff the parents want but I tell them ahead of time "at the end I'm going to ask each of you to make the weirdest/goofiest face you can" and b/c they all look forward to that, they all cooperate on the serious stuff). Study photographers known for their portraits (like Yuseff Karsh or Mary Ellen Marks), look at what defines their style and then practice emulating it (not b/c you're going to shoot that way, but to build your portraiture skills).

5. And yes, you're busy. That's why this (art) is hard to do--b/c life throws so many fricking obstacles in front of us. If it was easy, we'd all do it effortless and all day. Instead, we have to make time, energy, motivation, resources.

Here's a suggestion: get a copy of the book "The War of Art" by Stephen Pressfield. Brilliant book. It's a small book, a quick read. The basic point is that art is about sweat. That if you wait to "feel the moment" or until it all feels "right" or you're in a creative mood than you never produce art. That professionals perform when they're hung-over, they're sick, they feel like crap, they don't feel creative...and they do it anyway. They make time, they commit, they crank it out. B/c the easiest thing to do is to give excuses and to do other stuff (b/c you're waiting for the stars to align) and the hardest thing to do is to make time and put forth the effort and take a risk (and trying to produce art involves taking a risk).

That's my 2 cents....