What holds you back and how did/do you overcome it?

Overread

hmm I recognise this place! And some of you!
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Here's a little question for you all to ponder over - what do you feel holds you back in photography? What stops you achieving what you desire from your photography?

Further what steps have you/do you take to overcome the limitations that you see in your own photography (or your own enjoyment of photography)?



For me I'd say two things hold me back;
1) Art - I've never seen myself as overly sciencey nor arty, but for much of the time I leaned closer toward science than I did toward art. So whilst I've worked well on picking up ideas of exposure, composition and creating a pleasing photo artistically speaking is a far harder area for me to work into.
Light studies of composition as well as critique over both my own and others work is slowly training my eye, but I feel I've a lot more to do to get that eye well trained enough to see the composition in the field before I press the shutter - rather than after in the computer.

2) Fieldcraft - or rather my lack of it - another big change is my now needed skill in understanding the outdoors world to a level better than simply strolling though woodland pathways hoping for the wildlife to jump out at me. Still working on correcting this aspect (I mean I've got a hat and all so that got to help right - at some level!;))

So there are mine - what's yours?
 
Laziness mostly... Still trying to figure out how to overcome it. :p
 
I've been wanting to add more female portraits of people besides my family, what's holding me back is I'm 25 and all women from 18-50 think I'm trying to get in their pants. The ones who don't are doing 27 things at a time, or so they say.

Yeah I know about modeling agencies I'm considering going the route I need the work for my portfolio
 
j-dogg, your approach of women may be the problem because I have never had an issue and I was shooting nudes. Stop licking your lips as you talk to them. Joking about that last of course.

Overread, mine is time and age. Maybe the same thing in a way.

When I switched to digital learning the PP side didn't appeal to me much. I spent years working on my darkroom skills and didn't feel like doing it over again. Not to mention that I didn't really have the time and I am not in love with computers. Solution: Hire a PP person for the studio.

I'm not sure that what you talk about under Fieldcraft belongs here because everybody goes through that. We all have to learn about the chosen environment we choose to shoot in. When I went off to my first war the only experience I had was shooting demonstrations in Paris (68 could have been better training but I'm a bit young for that one, lol) and documenting the cardboard city on the outskirts of Paris.

Both of those were useful training but still nothing like war. I had to learn in the field just like you. See what I mean?
 
What holds me back? Lack of money to buy shiny new gear ;)

:thumbup:

Other than lack of money, what holds me back is insecurity. I tend to see a shot I want (usually of a person) and I'm too shy or insecure to ask them if I can photograph them. Even out in public if I see something that I want to shoot (let say in a strange place like the grocery store) I am insecure that people will look at me like I'm nuts taking pictures. :blushing:

I'm working on it tho!
 
Fieldcraft - or rather my lack of it - another big change is my now needed skill in understanding the outdoors world to a level better than simply strolling though woodland pathways hoping for the wildlife to jump out at me. Still working on correcting this aspect (I mean I've got a hat and all so that got to help right - at some level!;))

<------- Yes! me too got the same problem , but am working on it..
and also to be scared and have creepy thoughts, that something bad would happen if i do this or do that!!
i need to train my body exercise a lot to have at least the ability not to get in too much messy stuff.. and have my bones broke down..

- another thing i want to overcome it is, i dont want to feel shy when i look in people s faces... my family and the ppl i know is OK! but....
 
I watched my brother make it to Eagle Scout and went on a lot of camping trips with him so I've got fieldcraft down pat.

The last time I was in the Wildlife Refuge I had all my gear out and I saw a raincloud approaching so I packed up and set everything under some palm fronds I broke off of some nearby trees, grabbed a couple for myself, hid under a really big palm tree and rode it out dry.

The only problem with that is banana spiders and crab spiders love to make their nests in them so you gotta check them out before you potentially piss them off, they're harmless but the size of your hand and they have friends. :thumbup:
 
Time at the moment, and mostly in the PP side, Full time teaching plus 5 month old baby makes times pretty precious, and what free time I do have I rarely have all that much energy to sit and workflow a few hundred photos.
I'm slowly burning through my sets, it's all mostly minor tweaks with a bit of contrast and exposure, but I'm sure improving my skills would lessen the workload.

Also, due to time I'm finding it difficult to really find interesting things to shoot. I might make this sat a day we go for a walk and get some photos...
 
Excellent thread idea!

What holds me back? My inability to make a photograph. I can take them just fine, but make them? I cannot. What I mean by that is: If there's a scene, I can photograph it with the best of them, producing (IMO) results at least as good, if not better than the average bear, BUT, if someone says, "This is Product X, I want you to produce a series of images for print which convey why it is so much better than product Y" I'm stumped. Basically, it boils down to lack of imagination.
 
Cluttered thinking :confused:

I love photography so I read what other photographers say and try to pick up tips. But my best shots happen when I just see something that catches my eye and shoot it in the way I instinctively think looks right.
 
a beginners answer. time. or to be more descriptive. to slow down, take my time, think about what im seeing, how i want to compose it and shoot it for the best results. Instead I just see something, snap 5 of the same pics of it and run off to find something else. i need to concentrate on shooting a couple of things instead of trying to shoote 100 things in a day. ive always been impatient and i think this will be the hardest part for me to shake to become a better photographer.
 
What a great idea for a thread!

... So whilst I've worked well on picking up ideas of exposure, composition and creating a pleasing photo artistically speaking is a far harder area for me to work into.
Light studies of composition as well as critique over both my own and others work is slowly training my eye, but I feel I've a lot more to do to get that eye well trained enough to see the composition in the field before I press the shutter - rather than after in the computer.

This is me in a nutshell. My wife bought me a nice book for my birthday a while ago, Within the Frame, I think it's called, that addresses this very issue from a somewhat philosophical perspective. I think I need to re-read the book, but it's given me a fair amount to think about.

Here's the book: Within the Frame
 
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I'd say that it's a mix of a lot of things. Lack of support from my parents and no way of getting anywhere to take pictures. Also I've been let down by so many people with photography. Every time I get to a site i think is going to be great no one comments or critiques my work and it just discourages me. I guess I'm also insecure because I have a problem with feeling that I'm incapable of making anything worth something. Which is going to be hard to overcome.
 
What holds me back at is genetics. Myotonia Congenita is not a photographer's friend when out in the wilds, or when around a busy area trying to hunt around for angles and especially when trying to get low.

Most of the time I work through or around the limits of my body, but there have been moments where I saw a potential shot and then passed it over because of my physical limitations. Usually this is due to time constraints if I'm with people and can't take the 2 minutes to get a shot which would take a more normal person 30 seconds or so.
 

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