Practice Photography Everyday

It’s crucial as a photographer if I want to progress that I practice shooting everyday. If this isn’t something you are used to doing I understand the thought of this can be a little overhwhelming. We say to ourselves and others that we’ll do it when we have the time. In my experience there are two kinds of photographers.

The kind who only picks up a camera on assignment and the kind who doesn’t separate taking photographs from their life in any way. It is rare to find an artist who only picks up a camera when on assignment and is able to create work of any substance.

There are exceptions. Actually I’m not sure there are. Are there? Possibly there are. But they’ll be a rare character for sure. For the rest of us we have to be taking photographs on a regular basis. Daily. We have to practice guys.

For me I’m so used to shooting photography everyday that it is never a stress or a take from the rest of my life. It has long since become a habit. If it’s not a habit for you then possibly it’s one you’ll consider taking up. It’ll be an effort at first perhaps but like any habit it will eventually become part of your life, such that you’ll hardly give it a second thought.

I’ve heard every reason in the book from people, usually at my workshop, for there not shooting every day. Not having enough time, as I suggested above, tends to be the main one. The truth of the matter is all we have is time.

There is nothing else but time. And it doesn’t take a second to take a photograph. And, in actual fact, even if we’re up against it, being constrained by limited time is in fact a great way to become more skilled at being able to think on our feet and create quality work on the go.

I was speaking only yesterday to someone who had done one of my workshops and their reason for not shooting daily was that we are in lockdown and there isn’t enough content. This is a thought that I’ve genuinely never had. I was actually surprised that a photographer would even have that thought. This isn’t a critisism it’s an observation.

An artist, a creative, should, if they’re mining the moment, be able to create art without moving from the spot they are currently occupying. That it is a challenge is the point. Nobody ever gained muscle from lifting half ounce weights. All of life is content.

Looking at the ordinary and photographing it in a way that looks anything but ordinary is perhaps the essence of all creativity. Photograph your life guys. Photography the little moments. Steal frames of the children for 2-3 minutes each day.

And if they moan at you for doing it (my kids hate having their photograph taken is another old chestnut) then shoot that too. I actually think one of the main reasons for not taking photographs is that people simply are too lazy to take their camera out of a bag. Sorry. It is.

Use your smartphone. You have the greatest little piece of creative equipment with you 24 hours a day. Imagine the body of work someone like Henri Cartier Bresson would have had if he’d had a smartphone. In fact, that the smartphone has it’s limitations (to a lesser extent now than ever before) should surely be seen as food for creative challenge.

The other excuse is ‘yeah but i don’t want to be a documentary photographer I want to shoot fashion. The fact is if you want to become a fashion photographer or a landscape photographer or or shoot architecture, whatever it is, you still have to practice composition.

You still have to work to become intuitive to the play of light and all the other elements that becoming an accomplished photographer entails. Practice is practice. I’ll give you another one. ‘I’ve got a new born baby I haven’t the time for taking photographs.’

If you have a newborn baby you literally have a fashion model right there at your disposal 24 hours a day. There really isn’t a valid reason for not taking photographs every day - if (and this is a big if) you desire to master yoru craft. If you don’t - then none of this applies to you of course.

Check out the accompanying movie below.

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