Looking at other people’s photos is easy. You look. You react. You like it or you don’t. Simple. Looking at your own is like tasting with a blindfold on and no sense of smell. Try it, and you’ll know what I mean. Stripped of the initial reaction that guides us and influenced by our own biases, insecurities, desires, and hopes, editing our own images is anything but easy. If you’ve ever found yourself blind and senseless in a sea of ambiguity, overwhelmed by stars, flags, and color coded hints like bread crumbs in a forest on a wet and foggy day, here’s a thought to get you on the road to recovery. Editing may be a thick and murky world, but the compass is there if you know where to look. It’s about understanding yourself and calibrating your internal compass to match the way other people see your pictures. Learning to cut through the haze is one of the most important aspects in developing as a photographer.
Seeing Others
When you look at other people’s work, there are essentially going to be three different types of pictures you like. Those that get better with time, those that stay the same with time, and those that get worse with time.
Those that get better with time improve because you change. The more you understand photography, the more you appreciate them. You’ll always see the picture for what it is, but as you grow you increasingly see the process – the images come to symbolize the uniqueness of the decisions behind them and a specificity of purpose. Sometimes, you’ll barely like the images at first and come to love them later. Other times, you’ll love them, but you just won’t realize why and how much. As you grow, you see how strongly the process defied conventional photographic wisdom, and how directly the craft serves the art. Strong photographers are left in awe because these images surprise so much. They are not always hard to take, but they are always hard to imagine. Because these images stand for something, you may have to go out on a limb a little just for liking them. Not everyone will see it your way.
The pictures that stay the same are the standards of photography. They follow the classic rules of the medium. Well-worn, but well-formed with occasional bursts of inspiration. They may be quite strong in technique or mood, and often both, but the message they communicate is usually conventional. Both photographers and the general public will like these images, but the more you know, the less they will stand out. These are often commercial pieces, editorial work from quality publications, or more mundane but properly executed photojournalism. They show strong ability with good restraint, and they are the epitome of what it means to be professional. They are easy to like, but nondescript.
Finally, pictures in the last category – those that get worse – rely too heavily on technique. This is not to say all pictures with amazing technique fall into this category. But for those that do, they are the classic example of style over substance. They are often the most impressive initially, but there is rarely a strong message. Often, the look trickles down into the marketplace, as more and more people figure out “the trick.” These images tend to be pretty rather than beautiful, showy instead of insightful. They show exactly what we expect in our minds, except in the most dramatic way possible. They are difficult to visualize, but more because other photographers do not have their level of technique than because others do not have their level of imagination. They date easily, because technique is so easily time-stamped.
Seeing you
There are always going to be pictures that fall into all three categories for experts and beginners alike. They won’t be the same pictures to each group, but they’re always there. If you think experienced professionals are immune to the effects of technique over artistry, just go back through the academy awards and see how often the losers were better than the winners.
When you’re editing your own photos, you’re going to have three different hats on. Your photographer hat. Your business hat. And your technician hat. The photographer loves the pictures that grow. They’re meaningful and private. The business owner loves the ones that stay the same. They’re pleasing and marketable. The technician loves the ones that diminish in value. They show off what we know and how much we can do. It’s really all about knowing what hat we’re wearing when we look at our own pictures.
The photographer loves the inner self. It’s about photography for the reason you get into it. To feel. To visualize. Images that are the most unique and most distinctly you have the most appeal. You’ll know you have your photographer hat on when you love an image yet feel the most insecure. Rejection stings the most when it’s your most personal self being rejected. It’s that feeling of being afraid to show something, because you can’t bear the rejection, while being most excited to show something, because you love it. You’ll know just what the picture stands for, but you won’t be sure anyone else will. Because anything personal is always a little different from everyone else, there’s never the certainty that it is effective or will be accepted. You won’t be able to justify it or point to something else that’s the same. The pictures that appeal to the photographer have the greatest chance of making a statement and aging gracefully, but they also have the greatest chance of failure. Pictures with heart will win out over perfect but sterile images.
The business person is risk averse and likes the pictures that are indisputable. These are the ones that neither get better nor worse with time. Well-taken and well-crafted. Properly thought out, and defensible on every front, they preserve business and protect the brand. They are the images others will respect and few will hate. They are secure, and, more important, the reactions of viewers are predictable. You’ll just know people will like them and respect you for taking them. Most of these will be hits with a typical client, because your clients will have seen similar work by other professionals and have come to associate the body of techniques and visualization as proper. The business person likes the flawless and will take technical perfection over heart.
Finally, there is the technician. The technician loves to show off and is more interested in your capability as a craftsperson. If you were to explain the value of these types of pictures, you’d most likely resort to the difficulty of execution, as if photography were a sport to be judged by a panel of eastern Europeans. You’d talk about recognizing the technique and how much knowledge is involved in the result. The technician relies the most on tricks of the trade, secure in the fact that you can garner a reaction from most viewers because they show so much ability. You’ll often find yourself least attached to these images, but it’s hard to resist their pull, because they’re surely impressive. The pictures that appeal to the technician aren’t typically the the world as you see it. They’re the world as you think everyone else wants to see it.
The question at the end of the day isn’t which hat is better. It’s what you need to grow your business and improve your photography. But with that said, I see too many collections that are all about technique and predictability and too few that are about the heart and and our value as individuals. Don’t shy away from these images. You feel insecure for a reason. Because it matters. Because it’s unproven, which also means it’s unique. It’s easy to retreat to the things that are safe and the effects predictable. It’s harder to put yourself out there and take the hits. Rejection is never fun. But if you do, you’re doing something few others will do, and that’s going to crack the market open for you.
In rejection lies the best opportunity to learn. You’ll learn to take criticism, and you’ll learn it isn’t so bad when someone doesn’t like something if you believe in it. You’ll also learn that some people love it, and nothing feels better than that. Most importantly, you’ll learn what works for you, both in curating your work and when you’re behind the camera. And that’s the heart of what it is to progress.
Most people can see what’s similar to the rest of the market. Most people can recognize technical prowess. These are not unique skills. But the ability to create a distinct and personal brand is uncommon. Knowing how to tell a powerful story about who you are is one of the most important skills you can develop, and that only happens when you confront your fears and really stretch. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But one way or another, it will take you somewhere good.
Leave a Reply