When did you start feeling like you were GOOD?

[D-B-J]

Haven't gotten there yet.


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[limr]

Lexloo, in case you haven't noticed, what we're all saying here is that you are not alone I don't know what it is, but really it's a crap shoot how any of us feel about our skills on any given day.

I think this is true of any work that a person is emotionally invested in, not just photography. Sometimes we can be more objective about our work, but mostly we don't really know how to untangle how much of our successes or failures are due to luck, circumstances, or our own skills. It seems we are more likely to attribute good pictures to luck or circumstances, but for bad pictures, we blame ourselves.

 

[Designer]

It comes and goes. Sometimes I am quite pleased with myself in say, a design, or invention of some sort, but then the next day I can feel like a complete loser over some mistake that I've made.

Specifically in photography, I know I have made some fairly decent photographs, but they are usually a combination of serendipitous composition and lots of luck in getting the focus and exposure. Doesn't happen very often.

 

[rexbobcat]

I'll never know.

It seems like most notions of 'good' stem from how in-demand you are as a photographer, or how many awards you've gotten, or the publications you've photographed/been interviewed for.

So if you don't have any of that, how can you really know how good you are. I know, I know, "As long as you're happy with your work" blah blah. "You need to shoot for you, first and foremost" blah blah. But - and this is rather morbid when overly dramatic when talking about photography - nobody cares how you perceived yourself in life after your death...unless you're as obnoxiously self-idolized as Kanye West. The only thing that will matter is the legacy you've left behind, whether that be your work, your relationships, or any number of things.

As shallow as might seem given the vastness of possibilities in the human experience, I would like to be remembered as someone who created great stuff that people respected and appreciated. However, that whole statement is enigmatic, and frightening, because it's not something that you can just....do. How can I not feel like a sell out while also get enough recognition to feel justified in saying that, yep, I am a good photographer/writer/whatever. It's a mystifying roulette of being in the right place at the right time with the right people while also having the right set of skills and the right personality/attitude.

So to just cycle back to the beginning, I'll probably never know if I'm very good, because the criteria that I'm basing my "goodness" on is hinged on the perceptions of others.

 

[bratkinson]

As long as everybody keeps telling my "your camera takes such good pictures", I guess I still have along way to go to make it to 'good enough'.

 

[CameraClicker]

About 1975, but "good" then was different than "good" now.

I see someone else's photos and think "Wow, I'm not very good!", then later I'm looking at my photos and think "They look pretty good!" Have you seen the optical illusion of same colour squares: File:Grey square optical illusion.PNG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Art is a lot like that. If you have been looking at a lot of great photos, the next photo will not stand out so much, if you have been looking at poorer photos, the next one might stand out a lot, even if it is the same photo.

For what it's worth, on several occasions Joe McNally has indicated he is not too impressed with his photos either, yet, how many magazine covers and double width spreads has he had in magazines that care about their photo quality? Most people have self doubt, except the ones that really should have self doubt.

 

[dustyvicki]

When I got my first good camera many years ago.
My first camera was a Pentax K1000. The second one was a Minolta xG1 one third one was the Sears ksx super made by Ricoh and the fourth was a cannon ae1 programmable. All were SLR's. and they were all good cameras.

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[jsecordphoto]

When local new england photographers I know, respect, and looked up to when first starting out, looked at me as a peer, was when I started feeling "good". Starting to get requests from companies and getting paid was another time. The days where I feel like I suck are the most beneficial though, that's what drives me to learn and improve. I'd hate to always feel that I'm a good photographer

 

[Tom47]

Never, I always feel there is room for improvement in all of my photos.

 

[12sndsgood]

I feel I'm good now. Honestly ton's of people can produce good, good doesn't make you rich, doesn't make you stand out or win awards. I consider good to be average. I know I can go out and in most cases get a good shot. but good shots are just run of the mill. I'd rather be able to take great shots when I want and not when I feel I probably got lucky.

 

[Compaq]

I cannot say when it happened, but I now feel that when I see something I like, especially landscapes, and I have my tripod with me, and the correct lens, and the weather is nice, and I have the time to actually plan and take the shot, I am able to get images I, personally, are happy with.

So, as you see, a lot of things need to align themselves. But when they do, I think I can make fine photographs.

 

[Gary A.]

Back when I was good ... I used to get a slight tingle in my shutter release finger when I snapped something exceptional. That was back in the film only days when I was working. I'm trying to get that tingling back.

Gary

 

[bribrius]

oh, I would say when I was around six years old. I was drinking a beer with the boys and noticed my Tonka truck had some really great lighting. perfect really. natural light is the way to go. so I finished my beer and snapped a photo of it with the ole mans polaroid, right before I preceded to spray paint the Tonka and smash it with a hammer (which I recall getting in trouble for vaguely. )
But yeah, sitting at the bar, showing the boys my Tonka photo, yeah I think it happened then.

 

[Stradawhovious]

I suffer from long stretches of perpetual ameturism interrupted by sporadic moments of accidental competence.

 

[bc_steve]

Well... I'm better than I was ... and I plan to become better than I am.

The way "good" is being referred to sounds like some kind of plateau we need to reach, and once we get there we can hang out and be satisfied with our own awesomeness. It's like when I was younger and I thought when I was an adult, maybe in my mid-20's, I'd have my life figured.

Anyways my point is keep learning and keep raising the bar.