Maturing as a Photographer

Going through some old pictures today and I realize how much my style of photography has changed since I first started. Made me actually realize how much I have grown and matured as a photographer. I thought I would share some of these observations with you as I am sure some of you can relate.

Its amazing what you can do with photoshop. Truly. One thing I have learned is you dont have to apply every piece of photoshop knowledge to every picture you edit. Im looking at pictures so completely over sharpened, contrasted, desaturated, selective color (come on we all tried it), and such. Man my pictures look bad....
I think every person goes through this stage as a photographer. We can preach and preach till we are blue in the face to all the "newbs" about over processing, but they will do it anyways and I believe that they should. Of course it will look great to them, sure as hell did to me, and lots will think they have found their true calling and somehow are a photography savant and should go pro right now!!!! So go ahead, through a Gaussian blur on to someones face. 30 pixels sounds good. Throw on a mask, grab your black brush and smooooooooth that skin.

Oh my god how I had gear envy. There is a local park that is uber popular for photography. Im sure you know several just like it. Always a few families and kids getting their pic snapped by a pro photog. Doesnt matter if its a saturday or a tuesday its packed. I used to go out there with my little rebel and spend more time looking at other peoples cameras and wishing I could peel off that rebel badge so now one would see.
Then when I got a decent camera (50D) going to that same park strutting looking at the rebel users and knowing that I was BETTER because I had a Pro camera. Till I realized the 50D isnt really a pro camera.

Then the lens envy started. Oh my god I needed a red stripe. My life was not complete without that stripe. I wasnt a real photographer without one. I even convinced my wife I could make tons of money if I bought that much coveted 85L.

The list goes on and on.... So to all you new guys here are a couple of tips for you.

The only person who really cares what kind of camera gear you have is you. Believe it or not the camera really is only a tool and the person holding it is way way more important than the badge/megapixel/burst speed that the camera has. Having pro gear does NOT make you a pro. Experience, desire, and knowledge do.

There are NO shortcuts in great photography. Saying "screw it I can fix it in post" is a bad mantra. Good pictures start with good exposure. I have NEVER seen a truly bad photo become a truly GOOD photo through photoshop.

Im still not the best photographer in the world and I learn stuff every day. When it comes to PP I have learned minor adjustments are fine, but dont throw everything at a pic cause you can. Less is more is my new motto.
These pics are the same girl. Taken almost 2 years apart.
Sorry for the burn your about to feel in your eyes.

I often look back through my photos and see how my style has changed.

Since I don’t know how to do much in photoshop other than adjusting levels, curves and a bit of unsharpen mask my level of processing has pretty much remained the same, minimal.

For me the biggest difference I’ve noticed has been my subject and how it’s changed based on where I lived. Back in 2000 I lived very close to nature and got out hiking a lot so almost all my pictures were of nature. Then from 2004-2007 I was living in a big city and felt out of touch with nature and uninspired by my surroundings so my pictures developed more of a cold, industrial type feel and a lot of abstract stuff. Then in 2007 I moved back to a place that is close to nature and have a ton of flowers in the yard and my property backs onto a trail that goes through the woods so I’ve gone back to nature again, but certainly still throw in some abstract type stuff or even mix the two.

Great post and observations.

Other than the gear envy (I'm too self-centered to care about others), I track your story dead on, including the Photoshop overkill on everything.

It took me a couple of years to learn that PP less = much more if the image comes out of the camera close to correct.

Embarassing as it is, here's one from my first ever model shoot:

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I can definitely relate to the above, but I also noticed that I tended to experiment a lot more when I first started (movement, photographing textures and trying stuff). I came up with a lot of crap and nothing I printed, but I need to get back to doing more of that. I think I look at a lot of stuff and just say - no that's not going to work, or 'done that' instead of exploring it more.