A question of consistently making significant contributions to one’s field is continuously relevant in my main work, which is academic research in fluid mechanics. I believe that it is also important in photography.
No doubt, taking even a single amazing photo is not easy, but every now and then, even if you know nothing about photography and don’t have the best camera, you will take a great photo just by blind luck. Probably, most amateur photographers have had this experience. However, producing great, or even above-average, image consistently is much more difficult. It takes dedication of a professional to develop one’s skill to that level.
I have been thinking about what is required to make consistent significant contributions to a field (in this case, photography) and came up with the following list:
- Knowledge about the techniques: how a camera works, principles of lighting, composition, image processing, etc.
- Equipment that is capable of producing above-average results in variety of settings/conditions (read: expensive, pro-level camera(s), lenses and lights).
- Learning about the work of other photographers/artists: regularly looking at great images. Thankfully, it is very easy these days with online resources like Flickr or 500px.
- Learning directly from others. This includes working closely with other photographers, receiving feedback on your work and generally involving people in your projects.
- Practice: shooting regularly, which directly contributes to developing the skills of framing the shot, focussing properly, smoothly releasing the shutter, etc.
- Support from family/loved ones. Well, I suppose that if there is no one in your life, it is still quite possible to be a great photographer, but for me personally, my wife’s is involved in all aspects of our photo projects, from brainstorming the ideas to helping during the shoots (or taking care our daughter while I go shooting) to giving feedback on images, has been tremendously helpful. It is not an exaggeration that she simply enables my photography.
