My LR database shows that i took about 8900 images in 2007 and am already up to 5000 this year (In 2006, it was about 2000 and the images i shot before 2006 are not all in LR – so, i don’t know exactly how many images i shot before this time). Of course, i now shoot HDRs, so this number does not indicate unique images. My 3 star images for the year are slightly over 1000, of which my “Green” 3 star images are just over 200.
So, i can think of 2 things to say:
- I think it was Ansel Adams who said, your first 5000 images are crap. I think he meant “Green 3-star” images. I still have a long way to go!
- Thanks to digital – i think i can catch up with this sooner than i can thought. The rate of images that i have been taking seems to look more like Moore‘s law.
Ansel Adams’s advice reminds me of this popular joke: A girl with a Violin, lost in NYC asked a cab driver “How do i get to Carnigie Hall?”. He says “Practice, dear”.
If you want to take images like Mc Kenna or Weston or (your favorite photographer) – Practice!
Here are what i think are some stages in your Photographic skill development.
- Stage 1: Learning your camera & controls
- Stage 2: Learning to see
- Stage 3: Established photographic “style”
- Stage 4: Seeing creatively (creating art)
I think i am in Stage 2. One can get from Stage 1 to Stage 4 is by experience/time what ever you want to call it.
Get out and shoot more images!
Affordable Digital Photography is the best thing since slice bread. Photographer is no longer limited by rolls of film or developing expenses. We can really take advantage of the word – practice. One of my favorite quotes: “Repetition is a mother of success.” So, keep snapping and keep adding those stars