If you are reading a photography blog, it is because somehow it attracts you to this world. Maybe you just like to travel and have photographic memories of your trips and you walk here to get some advice, or you do not want to miss a single face of your adorable baby, for example, and that your passion does not go further. Although allow me to doubt it, you would not be reading this article exactly. If you are here it is because your interest goes further. Do you like photography. Much.
The question now is if you like it only for some of your free time or if you are passionate enough to dedicate a good part of your life to it. If you would like one day to be called a photographer, to make a living from this art or, even if you have another way of making a living, for photography to be your life partner, your other self, with what you identify with, express yourself and what they know you You can be a great photographer who makes exhibitions and whose photos are bought even if your main salary comes from working in an office, for example. If you dream of something like that, it is because photography runs through your veins, and that cannot be remedied. The only remedy that exists is to let her run free, listen to her needs.
In today’s article I am going to give you the keys that characterize a vein photographer. Some of these come from the factory (in your genes), others you can develop with practice and enthusiasm 😉 Do you want to know them?
1. Knowledge
I will start with the most basic, knowledge. There are great photographers in history who never studied photography, true. There are people who are born with a gift, we have commented on it on other occasions, although it is not usual, not everyone is Mozart, nor is Frida Kahlo or Vivian Maier who were born with special potential. Normally you need learn photography. The more you know about something, the more you realize how little you know, right? The same thing happens here. Your acquaintances may praise you for your photos and you think that you can dedicate yourself to it, but it is not like that, you must learn mainly about composition, but also about technique. If you don’t know what focal length or aperture is, the path will be much more difficult for you.
To acquire this knowledge, you can go to an approved school in your city, if your idea is to dedicate yourself professionally to photography, it is the most recommended; take an online course such as the one at the Photographer’s School, or be self-taught, that is, read many books or blogs like this one and, above all, practice in order to consolidate what you have learned.
2. Vision and curiosity
Knowledge will be of no use to you if you do not look at the world with different eyes than how others look at it. You must be curious about everything that surrounds you, see and feel what others do not see, observe from different perspectives, look for new scenarios and look at the world with a different approach.
3. Creativity and imagination
An artist cannot exist without creativity or imagination. These two qualities go hand in hand with the word artist. Creativity is what drives you to constantly create, with a camera, a guitar, or a brush and a pot of paint. If you are not a creative person or who strives to be, it will be difficult for you to consider yourself an artist, neither in photography nor in any other artistic discipline.
4. Take risks
Wanting to try new things is another quality that will distinguish you from the rest of the mortals who carry a SLR around their neck, no matter how expensive it may be. Look for new directions, risk breaking rules, making mistakes that could be the key to the success of the image or try where no one has ever tried. This is what has allowed us to enjoy the advances in photography. Without people like Harold Edgerton, pioneer of high-speed photography, who created a flash to capture movement, we would still be taking photos under a cloth 😉 By this I don’t mean that you necessarily have to do an engineering work, but I do achieve something that differentiates you from others, something that has not been seen, at least try it 😉
5. Passion
Passion will be one of the characteristics that will work as the engine of the rest. If you don’t feel irrepressible passion for this world, forget it. You will not get very far, look for something you really feel passionate about and follow that path, which will be the one that takes you high. To achieve something great, something important, you need to put a lot of passion, infinite enthusiasm, otherwise you will end up throwing in the towel at the first disappointment and, believe me, on this path you will find many.
You will know if you are one of those who put passion into it if you don’t mind spending a sleepless night to capture the stars, getting up early in the fifteenth to photograph the fog, there is no birthday or Christmas when you don’t get a gift related to photography, you do not go out without your camera and not carrying it with you is not an impediment to continue photographing everything you see, you remember your trips almost through a viewfinder, it does not matter if it is Monday or Sunday that you want to go out to take pictures and you keep thinking that you better photo is yet to be done. These are some of the clues that will tell you if what you feel is passion for this art or just flirting 😉
6. Resources
When I speak of resources I am not referring to those of the team or those you find on the web, but to the resources themselves, to being a resolute person, that if you have forgotten a diffuser at home, you are capable of solving it; if the weather fails you, you can turn the tables and get the best out of the day; or if the monument you were going to photograph is closed to the public, you will be able to find a way to take a piece home with you.
7. Optimism
This is also another quality that I call motor, like passion. Optimism will be in charge of not throwing in the towel, getting up at five in the morning to photograph a sunrise and stoically chasing a two-year-old baby to take a portrait. Because nobody convinces you that you are not going to achieve it 😉
8. Communication
You will have to develop your communication skills. On the one hand, to express your ideas through your images. You need to be able to tell what you feel through photography, that is communication. If you don’t communicate, your images will be empty and of no interest to anyone.
On the other hand, your communication skills will help you to involve other people in your projects, as protagonists of the images, as assistants, as collaborators or whatever you need. In addition, you will also need it to promote yourself and get your work seen by the public. Vivian Maier was nobody until her reels were revealed and she was able to admire her work. So that something like this does not happen to you, you can always create your own online gallery.
9. Persistence
Persistence, patience, perseverance… It is very easy to fall into frustration, in fact it is practically mandatory or inevitable, what distinguishes a photographer from a mere amateur is the ability to overcome that frustration, the need to go over it and not get carried away by the negative feeling.
Edgerton, the photographer I told you about earlier, took twenty-five years to get his famous drop of milk. He discarded all the deformed drops until he achieved the one that formed a perfect crown. Five decades, a quarter of a century! Do you know how much passion, persistence and optimism this man must have had?
10. Luck
And luck is not Luck with a lowercase letter, the one that falls to you with the lottery or similar, but Luck with a capital letter, the one that is sought, that is carved out every day. It is the one you find when you have prepared the way, you have worked, you have studied, you have not thrown in the towel, you have worked on a gallery, people know you for your work and on that exact day you are in the most opportune place where cross a person who proposes to edit a book with your work or lends you his prestigious gallery so you can exhibit your work. If there is no path behind, the luck of meeting that person will pass by your side and you will not even notice.
11. Own style
This is very easy to say and very difficult to achieve, which does not mean that it is impossible. You can have your own style from the moment you shoot your first photo, but this is not usual either. You will find your own style based on walking and choosing the paths that you like the most, where you feel most comfortable. You will have to unlearn photography to find your style and shoot many times and many types of images until that style rears its head. Do not give up, remember: persistence.
How many of these qualities do you already have? Surely with several of them, so the road will be easier. Remember, if you have passion, the rest can be achieved with persistence and optimism 😉
Did you find it useful? If so, I would be infinitely grateful if you would share it with your contacts. Thank you and see you soon!