You would think that at my age and for how long I’ve been working in photography, I would not make any mistakes. You're not growing and learning if you don’t make a mistake here and there. It’s really how you discover those mistakes and how you recover from them.
I was taking a class by National Geographic photographer, Sam Abell way back in the 90s. It was on photojournalism but really on finding yourself in photography. Sam is a good inspirational leader in photography and he told me it’s not wrong to go back to a scene, to an idea and keep creating images till you get it right.
Sure, you think that making a mistake or choice that did not work out is a purely amateur move. But, if you're not taking chances, you're not growing as a photographer or as a professional. You should always be learning in photography, or else your work will be stale, and not interesting.
I’ve always said, if you find a person who states they never make a mistake, then that person is lying, don’t waste your time and move on. That person is just hiding behind his or her ego and only doing the same thing, never outside of their comfort zone.
One sign of a professional is that they check their work and get it right before they leave the scene or session. If you don’t catch it, just fess up, be an adult and redo the photography. But always remember what you did, so the next time it won’t happen again. Sometimes you just can’t come back to the scene, and you lost that feeling you found at the photo session.
There are jobs you have to get right the first time: weddings, events dealing with people, crime scenes, autopsies, but especially events that people stage. Some events you can re-stage, like parts of a wedding, or the run through of a theater play, but you know that ahead of time.
I just did a series of simple portraits of dogs with their handlers for a charity’s calendar. Most of them came out great, just as I wanted, except the fourth guy and his dog. The autofocus focused on the background and my subjects are just enough out of focus that it has driven me nuts.
So, I get back to my desk and check out my camera. Sure enough, the focus was on single point and not wide field focus points. The camera was doing its job and focusing on whatever my focus point was pointing to. Just it wasn’t on my subject, but the background.
I’m currently waiting for a return email from the commanding officer of the K-9 team, hoping he will give me permission to rephotograph that guy with his K-9. Lucky enough, the officer and his dog are stationed at the entry gate and where we did the photography the next day and I could photograph that team properly.
Another job this week, I was photography a townhouse that’s going on the market. I decided not to set my aperture at my normal setting but two stops open. I’m thinking with a 14mm lens I have depth of field. I was wrong. A bone head mistake. I should have known better and I really do. I mistaken the amount of depth of field I would have with that lens.
The job was a two-story townhouse, which I had to show the open plan of the design. I increased my ISO and open the aperture to make a quick exposure. Big mistake. All the living room and dinning room area have to be rephotographed, no depth of field.
I had mostly blurred furniture and appliances. The rest of the house is fine. I went to my normal operating aperture for the outdoor venues and continue with that aperture for the upstairs area. Again, I thought I was being smart, but I didn’t really think the problem through.
Luckily, the realtor is a close friend and will let me reshoot the living room and dining room area after the painters finished. (Update, I rephotographed the living room area and they look great, f11 at 1 second base exposure for a series of HDRs’.)
Trying new things should not scare you from your photography goals. Take a leap of faith and try something new. Let’s see what develops, but don’t do it on actual professional assignments.