Making Mistakes
And why they are an essential part of any photography journey.
Hello, I’m Gill and I write a photography blog inspired by the landscapes of Suffolk and beyond. Please subscribe to read more of my writing and visit my website to view my images.
My sunrise photography outing on Saturday was a spur of the moment decision. It was a choice made after looking at the weather forecast and was not the result of hours of meticulous planning (or any planning for that matter!) It was an impulse, based on an urge to get out and experience the joys of a perfectly still morning.
I love calm conditions and cannot resist mirror like water and perfect reflections. So at 4.30am my partner and I grabbed our camera bags and headed out in the camper van to the other side of the Deben estuary to the quirky little fishing hamlet of Felixstowe Ferry.
The morning was looking decidely overcast as we parked the van and headed for the river. I wasn’t really bothered about the sunrise, I just wanted to experience the stillness of the morning. However as a photographer I still get excited by the idea of dawn colour, and on Saturday this came out of nowhere. As the darkness slipped away it took with it much of the low level cloud revealing bands of pink and orange as the rising sun began to light up the sky. I was so engrossed with boat reflections that I didn’t look for any other compositions and continued shooting across the river as the sky exploded with colour.
What I should have done was to explore some other, more simple compositions - perhaps working with some long exposures around the old groynes a little further along the beach. Instead I stuck with the boats and produced a whole series of brightly coloured, very busy images that did nothing to showcase my skills as a photographer.
Pointing the camera at bright sunrise colours doesn’t guarantee great images - composition is still king and mine was sadly lacking. Even after years of taking images, making mistakes is still so easy to do. Getting seduced by lovely light and not thinking much beyond that was silly and I realised my error when it was too late. Kicking myself, I went to explore what else the location had to offer.
Making mistakes in photography is easy, but as long as we learn from them it doesn’t matter. It is what makes us grow and develop creatively. I might make my living from photography but it is wrong to assume I don’t mess up regularly. I usually only keep a few images from any trip out and in terms of portfolio images I might be lucky to average one a month. Lots of my shots are distinctly average.
As we all progress on our photography journeys our goals will naturally evolve and shift and our eye will become more discerning. We should get more critical about our photography as we develop. I usually only process one or two photos from any shoot, picking the ones that I feel best represent the session. I would rather work on one shot I am happy with than spend time trying to make mediocre images look special because this will never happen. Learning what works and what doesn’t is an important part of evolving as a photographer and selecting the best images amongst the hundreds we have taken is a skill that develops as we grow.
Back on the beach I managed to find a few more shots which I felt worked better compositionally.
I also experimented with some small scenes and had fun putting three together in Photoshop to make a vertical triptych.
Not all photography sessions are going to go to plan and sometimes I have come home with nothing at all. It is better to admit when things aren’t working and take a break. We cannot be creative all the time and I usually find that if I put pressure on myself to come home with a portfolio image it doesn’t happen. Creativity is a fickle thing and in my experience it will only come when I am relaxed and totally at ease with myself and my surroundings.
Making mistakes is a natural part of life and any photography journey. If we embrace them and learn from them we come back stronger and hopefully more inspired next time we go out with the camera.
I may have squandered most of the sunrise colour last Saturday but I still enjoyed the experience of being out on the edge of the river with the curlew calling from the mudflats and the sound of the water lapping over the shingle. To me this is worth so much more than any image I could have made and it is the reason I will return time and time again.
How do you cope with mistakes in your photography? Do you find it easy to move on and become re inspired? I would love to hear your thoughts on this and anything else this post may have inspired. Please feel free to join the conversation and comment below.
Once again thank you so much for reading it really does mean the world to me. Until next week enjoy your photography
Gill
Ha! I am constantly making photography mistakes! Occasionally they are camera mistakes like the focus being off or shutter speed too slow for shooting hand held. Those are the most frustrating because I feel like I should know better.
The majority of my mistakes are in composition. I feel like these are a development process, with each mistake being a learning experience.
Thanks for your insights! Very helpful!
I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to come away with images but not so much now, however that doesn't make me immune to scrambling around with my gear when the light gets good. A philosophy of letting images come to you rather than trying to force them is something that I try my best to follow and be mindful of