why is it so hard to take a photo
Photography at the surface level is one of the most accessible forms of visual art but when looking to take a good photo I find that I really struggle with considering my own photos as art to be proud of and often find myself less inclined to take photos because of this. On a day to day basis I take a lot of photos of the things I am doing for the sake of memories, but its been years since I’ve taken out a camera to make “art”.
When I pull out the camera I have a tendency to just press the button and focus more on taking the photo than setting the subject up well. I believe that this is partially due to my overconfidence in editing software, such as Adobe Lightroom, and I fail to create original shots as a product of this. In other words, the processes that I find the easiest (editing) cannot help me with the processes that I find difficult (framing and lighting). This leads to a lack of confidence in my abilities.
To dive deeper into this I conducted an interview with a friend who is a photographer to get a better understanding of her mindset.
How long have you been doing photography for?
It started as just something fun I enjoyed doing, but I enjoyed it so much I’m now pursuing it, hopefully full time.
Are you confident in your photo taking abilities?
There are times when I doubt myself, recently I was doing some landscapes and felt totally out of my depth to the point where I my questioned my entire skill-set.
How did you work past that feeling?
Landscapes are something I don’t have a lot of experience in, and you can’t expect to be good at something the first time you try. So it was a lot about managing expectations to not expect more than what I could actually do. It was a lot of trial and error and practice, but also continuing to do the stuff I’m already confident in helps with mental confidence.
Freya Wells is a friend and a photographer who focuses on portraiture.
Do you think you rely more on getting the photo right in the camera, or is there a lot of reliance on editing to get the final photo?
For me it’s definitely more about taking it the first time, because I really don’t like editing. Composition is my main focus.
Why don’t you like editing?
Maybe its because I don’t know how to do it (this made her laugh). I guess I don’t dislike it I just don’t like doing a lot, I like it for the first 3 photos then I quickly have had enough for the day.
How does sharing your photos/art make you feel?
I really enjoy sharing my work, a huge part of creating art for me is the sharing process, it’s one thing to make something and another thing entirely to share it. I really want people to see what I’ve made and to see how they feel about it.
Talking to Freya left me with a few key takeaways that I can apply to my own work. For one, it’s OK to have moments where you doubt yourself. Improvement comes when you push through that.
Secondly, focusing on things you are comfortable with can help to increase confidence but you cannot improve without stepping out of your comfort zone. I should spend more time focusing on my in-camera work, and setting up good subjects .
Finally, sharing art is such an important part of the experience for so many artists, maybe I should get out and take some photos with the goal of sharing them.
A look into the struggles I personally face every time I take a photo, and the processes that both decrease and increase the difficulty. Tom Howell, 2022
