aNewDomain — The world-class athlete. The elite musician. The famous screenwriter. Each one of these are at the top of their respective game — and each of them have one thing in common: countless hours of practice.
The same should go for photographers, right? Practice is a must when it comes to being elite in any field. So why do aspiring photographers think that snapping images for social media is the only practice they might need?
Practice Makes Perfect
Today photography is a hobby that can be pursued by most people. You can grab any old camera and start shooting, and chances are your smartphone has a decent camera built in. If everyone can do it, does it means everyone is a photographer? Sort of. It’s easy to get a candid snapshot, sure.
But not everyone can get a thought-provoking photo. A photo that makes you pause, or gasp, or realize something new about the world.
That takes talent, but most importantly, it takes practice.
How do you shoot such a thing? How do you know when you’ve captured that incredible moment? Nobody is ever going to tell you. The truth is you have to practice, endlessly, and then you’ll have an idea. Do you think Trey Ratcliff became world renowned after a month of shooting photos? Nope. I bet he would scoff at such a notion.
I run the Smartphone Photographers Community, and we had a lengthy conversation about practice in photography. You can see the video below. And thanks Mike Sweeney for such a wonderful topic of discussion.
If you have questions please get at me in the comments. And remember to practice.
For aNewDomain, I’m Ant Pruitt.
Featured image: Weight Lifting via Wikimedia Commons
