Dirty Little Secrets of Photography

• In order to get better, most of us have to take a lot of photos.
• In order to progress in the craft, most of us have to shoot often.
• In order to get better ideas, most of us have to look at a lot of photos.
• Photography is always a game of giving up something to get something else. But what will it be next?
• There is no perfect camera.
• There is no perfect lens.
• There is no perfect photograph.
• Quality of light is almost always more important than the quality of the equipment.
• “I spent too much for my lenses” is rarely an issue other than on your budget.
• Digital photography requires you to be the lab technician, color expert and processing guru.
• The business of photography is often about making money, not better art.
• Being too critical can keep you from making photos.
• Not getting critical enough can let you languish in mediocrity.
• Photographer’s are their own best and worst critic.
• There is not a direct correlation to the expense of the gear and the quality of every result.
• Everything in the resulting photo is completely up to you, because you chose when and where to click the shutter.
• Grain can be dealt with, but today blur is forever.
• When you bring everything on location, you won’t use most of it.
• When you bring just a few things, you will likely need the things you did not bring.
• Long-term professional photographers generally are often better business people, better problem solvers or better managers of details than most other photographers.
• Photography is a journey, not a destination.

-Landon