A Little News

One of the comments to the first post is from a fellow shooter and he said something important I want to share and amplify. Having another person take a look at your work and give you some feedback is an excellent way to break out of a slump. When I finally realized I was in a terrible slump, I had a couple of trustworthy co-workers look over my portfolio. Even working together all the time, I was amazed at how much insight they provided. I also had my friend Dave Martin, then at the AP, evaluate my work. He gave me a very honest evaluation which helped me a great deal.

When you look at your own work all the time you tend to lose perspective on it. You will fall in love with some photos and not really be moved at all by some others. That is why having another person take a look with you is good. Have them edit some jobs with you or go back and re-edit some of your older work. Compare what you see in an edit with what they see in an edit. You may be surprised at someone else’s perspective on what you do every day.

We had a consulting firm work with The Decatur Daily for the last two years and one of the first things I did was ask them for a portfolio review. I was not even in a slump at that time but I wanted to get better. Their primary suggestion for me was to work on using my wide angle more effectively. That was something I had not noticed about my own work but when I began to think about my shooting style I realized that I am much more comfortable with the telephoto and that most of my favorite pictures were done with a telephoto.

As it relates to a slump, shooting the way you have always shot will not break you out of a slump. You must do something different if you want different results. My pastor says the definition of insanity is doing the same thing but expecting different results. In photography, if you want a different look or you want to break out of a slump you have to change the way you are working; otherwise, you are just spinning your wheels. Challenge yourself and do something different. Have someone look at your work and see how they react to it. See how they view your favorite images.

I shot a storm a few years ago and came back with two images that I really liked. I immediately dropped them both in my portfolio. My friend Corey Wilson was a little less enthusiastic about them than I and he told me to wait a while before putting them in my portfolio and I may like one better than the other or I may not want either one of them in your portfolio. That was good advice. I still like one of those shots very much but the other has fallen from favor. Given a little time I was able to see that it was not really portfolio grade work. It is wise to evaluate your own work regularly. It is also wise to have others evaluate your work regularly as well. They will see what you cannot.

The photo with this post is the one that survived. It was shot along Highway 72 in Athens, Alabama and shows nursery workers trying to save inventory after a creek rose and flooded their business.

Photo copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.