8 secrets I wish I knew when starting out
I started when I was 16 years old, and at that time – as much as it was exciting – it was rare to find anyone who shared the same interests as deeply as I did.
The journey was indeed lonely, but the solitude enabled me to learn invaluable lessons about art, business, and life in general.
Today, I am glad to share these lessons for anyone wanting to:
Advance their photography skills
Make photography a career
Learn more about my journey
Here are 8 things I wish someone told me when I was beginning:
1. Quantity + Quality = Greatness
Some people say that you need to limit yourself and create less but of higher quality.
Some say you need to create as much as you can, to get better.
Then what do we do?
I’d say do both together.
Prioritizing quality forces us to develop a better creative eye. We tend to get efficient with our limits, thus creating better photos within the same resources (equipment, time)
Prioritizing quantity pushes us to always show up; whether it’s online or on the field.
Showing up consistently helps our ideas flow better and clearly. This is because our brain starts to think that: what you’re showing up for is important.
However, putting all your eggs in either basket is very unsustainable.
Prioritizing quality may make you better, but super inconsistent and can also lead you to total burnout.
Prioritizing quantity may make you consistent, but you might not actually advance your creative skills.
Therefore, it is important to strike a balance between the two:
Create great stuff, but don’t put too much pressure. Create a lot of things, but not too many.
2. Equipment matters, but only after some time.
Everyone advises ‘Equipment doesn’t matter, it’s all about you’.
Is it true? Well, not entirely.
The thing is, equipment does matter, but only at a certain level.
When someone is a complete beginner, they will create beginner-level work, therefore, high-end cameras & lenses won’t make much of a difference to them.
When a beginner is given a $500 and $5,000 camera, the difference in results won’t be huge. This is because the beginner may not know how to exploit the full potential of the $5,000 camera.
So yes, in the beginning, it really is all about you and not the equipment. It’s about how effectively you learn to know the camera basics and play around with your creativity.
However, once you have mastered the basics and can shoot comfortably in manual mode, then you could possibly upgrade your work with better equipment.
I hear of people with $10,000+ camera setups but they still shoot in auto-mode and it gets me confused.
While I’m not one to tell someone how they should spend their money; if you genuinely want to improve in photography, you need to match your skill level with your gear.
The idea is to master your current gear before you upgrade.
After I made the most out of my $250 beginner camera, my work transformed the moment I upgraded to a $2,000 camera.
3. Styles limit you
The advice that I saw everywhere online was that a photographer must find their unique style to stand out. This could be in terms of editing, subject, colors, composition, etc.
I went on to believe this with passion and started to create photos in one consistent editing style.
While it helped me achieve a ton of editing knowledge, it definitely limited my potential.
The thing with having a unique style is that you will be bound to create fewer photos. Additionally, it blocks you from exploring other pathways.
Gone are the Instagram days of having a consistent color scheme on a profile. Now, it’s all about the value you provide and how versatile you can be.
I began by having soft green edits, then went on to dark edits, and now I just do what I want; whether it’s bright colors, dark edits, soft greens, silhouettes, black and whites, etc.
Unless you are one of the greatest photographers in the world, I’d advise you to not limit yourself to one style.
4. Technicality vs Intuition
To be very honest with you, I’m not the best at tech. I don’t understand a lot of the technical aspects of the camera.
I’m not the type of photographer who can achieve a good photo because of implementing good camera settings.
I try to keep an open mind as much as I can, but I only focus on what I need; which is the basics.
The point I’m making is that you don’t need to be technical to achieve great photos, you just need to develop your creative mind (intuition) to create great photos.
While several types of photos can only be achieved with certain technical aspects, so much more can be done with a creative mind.
5. Benefits of editing mastery
When I was starting out as a teenager, wildlife photography was dominated by people who could afford high-end equipment.
To match that level, I figured I could do that by achieving a great editing style.
My aim was to ‘match’ the world’s best photographers by proving that you don’t need insanely expensive equipment to create quality.
Now, many people advised me that editing is ‘bad’ and we should keep photos ‘original’. If I posted RAW photos, I’d probably have given up within 6 months.
Note that I don’t obsess over editing, and I have my own rules for processing images in general.
Basically, you just need to capitalize on what you’re in control of. For me, that was editing from home (which was inexpensive).
In addition, editing allowed me to have my own unique identity.
Even though I don’t have a completely unique style (I think), people started to know me as the guy who edits well.
Read more about editing here
6. Develop the ability to read light
In terms of creative ability, one of the most rewarding skills is to be able to read light well.
Photography is all about lights & shadows.
Learning about light makes you see the world differently, compose differently, and process images differently.
Master the natural flow, harshness and softness of light, and you will outgrow most photographers.
Just like in life & photography, read the light and you’ll get it right’.
7. Photography is less than 10% of the work
This one’s for people aspiring to become professionals or those who are interested in knowing what a photographer’s life looks like.
For non-professionals, I’d roughly say photography is 20%, editing 30%, and 50% social media.
From my experience, photography has been about 5% of the total work I have put into my photography career.
Apart from photography on the field, I spent a ton of time on editing & social media marketing (reels, stories, blogs, etc.)
Not to mention, a photography business requires the photographer to – all at once – be an entrepreneur, marketer, web developer, salesperson, writer, graphic designer, accountant, social media manager, etc.
I’m grateful for all of the quality skills that I have learned just by having a photography business.
8. 99% don’t make photography their career
As mentioned in No. 4, making a hobby a career doesn’t happen for everyone.
It would be wrong to say that it is easy to become a professional because statistics don’t say so.
I am grateful to be living in Kenya, and having started at the age of 16, it puts me in a unique position. While I am not a full-time professional yet, I do aspire to become one.
This was not to discourage anyone from becoming a pro, but instead to lay the harsh truths so that no one gets disappointed.
It’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into before you commit 100%.
My advice for anyone who pursues photography (especially travel, wildlife & other hobbies in similar) would be: to continue your photography as a passion, and if you wish to become a professional, the safest option is to implement is slowly.
You make the switch when your photography income matches your job’s income.
Regardless of that, I am the biggest believer in self-belief and beating the odds! If you truly believe in yourself, there’s absolutely no one to stop you.
Ending
Hope you’re left feeling inspired.
If this helped, let me know 🙂 @spotclickpost
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Until next time,
Dhir
PS:
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If you have any queries, message me.
