what in your opinion....
- Thread starter Chris Lim
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What in your opinion is the best way to push ourselves to the limits?
Will enrolling in a photography academy for a BA help?
or just shoot and shoot? Lets hear your views.
limit ar, go cold turkey... tie u up, put in a room, and place a new model camera with a super duper lens in front of u...
thats like ultimate. :bsmilie:
But im really serious. I honestly honestly think just getting opinions and critiques ain't enuff to help a person move to a higher level of mature photography or thoughts behind the image.
u read so much in CS, u should know there is 2 school of thoughts (not torts).
1 is to tell u to be creative, break the rules before u even know the rules.
1 is to tell u to be creative, break the rules after u know the basics.
whichever way, just be creative. and there is nothing in books that will teach u more than being practical, we can talk about photography all day, theory master, practical idiot... u can do that... but y not go shoot more, understand more... then u'll not post this topic again. there is no limit, after u take a pic, dun be satisfied, try to better than that, and better, and better...
1 is to tell u to be creative, break the rules before u even know the rules.
1 is to tell u to be creative, break the rules after u know the basics.
whichever way, just be creative. and there is nothing in books that will teach u more than being practical, we can talk about photography all day, theory master, practical idiot... u can do that... but y not go shoot more, understand more... then u'll not post this topic again. there is no limit, after u take a pic, dun be satisfied, try to better than that, and better, and better...
If you are thinking of just "technical skills", then go to school; Digital Imaging. Besides different subjects and conditions, you will also be surprised to discover "shooting" for Digital and "shooting" for film can mean different levels of skills/knowledge and skillsets. The thought process before the shoot, during the shoot, and after the shoot can and will affect the image.
Have fun.
Go on a trip around the globe with nuthing but camera and essentials.
Experience different cultures, taste diff food, hear diff languages, see diff people.
Might take years and years.
Bring back beautiful images containing all of that.
But deep inside, you yearn fer a 2nd round.
Y push myself to the limit?
I think it will hinder myself.
To mi, photography is limitless and i want to flow along with it.
My 2 cents,
Experience different cultures, taste diff food, hear diff languages, see diff people.
Might take years and years.
Bring back beautiful images containing all of that.
But deep inside, you yearn fer a 2nd round.
Y push myself to the limit?
I think it will hinder myself.
To mi, photography is limitless and i want to flow along with it.
My 2 cents,
Never settle for second best.
Be your own toughest critic.
Always strive to take a better photo than your last one.
Emulate the masters, then try to surpass them.
Work the subject until you have achieved the perfect photo.
Well Said! :thumbsup:
Never settle for second best.
Be your own toughest critic.
Always strive to take a better photo than your last one.
Emulate the masters, then try to surpass them.
Work the subject until you have achieved the perfect photo.
I agree.
But how does one eat an elephant?
make sure u are hungry enough.
get the right weapons to kill it.
have the patience to track it down.
learn from experienced elephant hunters.
eat it piece by piece.
try something new everyday
ask yourself what if.....
and try it out
after your shoot, picke the best image
and try to make it better
ask yourself again what if ....
and try it out
ask yourself what if.....
and try it out
after your shoot, picke the best image
and try to make it better
ask yourself again what if ....
and try it out
i think self-critic may not work if the person doesn't know much to criticise...
1) maybe take a look at other's works and books....
2) join competitions ... if lost join again and join aggain...
3) take up paid assignments and try to satisfy the most demanding customers
4) i think course helps too as in a group and see different's people perspective,got teacher to ask....also can discuss photography together... go outing together ... think as a group more motivate to push oneself (a sort of pressure to be better than others and not lazy....)
5) photo critic session in PSS (dunno still around)
6) join Steven Yee's Art of Seeing
1) maybe take a look at other's works and books....
2) join competitions ... if lost join again and join aggain...
3) take up paid assignments and try to satisfy the most demanding customers
4) i think course helps too as in a group and see different's people perspective,got teacher to ask....also can discuss photography together... go outing together ... think as a group more motivate to push oneself (a sort of pressure to be better than others and not lazy....)
5) photo critic session in PSS (dunno still around)
6) join Steven Yee's Art of Seeing
Hmmm thanks for all the replies. Alot to think about.
I tend to agree photography is boundry less. I try to be my own critic thats why i've been very depressed for quite a long while now. I feel nothing i shoot is good enough.
I think this is one thing we need to be careful of. When we get too much negative feeling about our own work, having critique ourselves constantly, we may begin to have a negative feeling about ourselves not being able to produce good work. This can lead to alot of people giving up.
I was once told by Russell wong. "In order to improve, you need to read, look at other's work, critique, travel, speak to people and practise."
But having said all that, If it was this easy, how so will enrolment in a institute help in your progress to become a professional commercial photographer?
I tend to agree photography is boundry less. I try to be my own critic thats why i've been very depressed for quite a long while now. I feel nothing i shoot is good enough.
I think this is one thing we need to be careful of. When we get too much negative feeling about our own work, having critique ourselves constantly, we may begin to have a negative feeling about ourselves not being able to produce good work. This can lead to alot of people giving up.
I was once told by Russell wong. "In order to improve, you need to read, look at other's work, critique, travel, speak to people and practise."
But having said all that, If it was this easy, how so will enrolment in a institute help in your progress to become a professional commercial photographer?
i think institute can give a starting point
- the technical aspect
- give some guideance on creativity (maybe just some guidelines, the rest is up to us...)
- get some contacts or networking to a photography career
- a cert (i know some photographer like to put their photography title/certification in their website or namecard ...)
- experience of trainers - advise and their pitfalls, tips
- some trainers some contacts/job with industry/commercial company...maybe they can intro u as a intern iin that company? just some thots...
May I suggest that you go one step further in your self-critique.
Instead of just saying "it's not good enough", try to go into the specifics why it is not good enough. Is is composition? lighting? Ask yourself what is the one thing you could do differently to improve the photo, then go out and shoot the same subject better with that one improvement. Repeat the whole process. Take it one step at a time, and when you eliminate all weaknesses one by one, your photos will inevitably become stronger and have more impact.
Nephew Chris, here is a good website for learning how to work the subject and to seek the image, from master photographer Sam Abell. very instructive.
seeking the picture
读万卷书不如走万里路。。。
I read two issues here
#1 How to push to your limits
#2 How to be a professional commercial photographer
The two may or may not be related. Let me deal with #1. I am not competent to give comments on #2.
Listen to zaren. Some replies are nonsense, and you know which.
About travels. Travel broadens one's mind. But travel pictures are not necessarily those that push one to the limits. True, one needs to know how to take pictures to take good travel pictures. But very often, it is the novelty and seldom seen before nature of the images that make travel pictures interesting.
With regards to this, if you could, go to Keith Carter's website. Keith is a professor of arts in Lamar University and a highly respected photographer. Of course he has pictures taken from his travels. But listen to him how he realised that he need not travel far to make good photographs. He went back to his hometown and started to make photographs.
There are other teachers such as Ruth Bernhard. Ruth is now about 100 years old! In her sell-out workshops, she often told her students to take pictures within the confine of say like 30 meters radius.
When you place "restrictions" like this, you are in fact removing restrictions to seeing, something which Picasso called "restriction is freedom".( I hope I got it right!)
To push oneself to the limits, one must stand at the edge of limits. What does it mean in photography?
Let us look at sex. When Edward Western showed the sculptural image of Charis, he was so concerned with a few stands of pubic hair which peeped out from the folded legs. Years later, ideas on sex and tolerance changed. But there are taboos at all time of civilisation. Take a look at the works of Helmut Newton. He took sex and made it into art! He stood at the threshold/limits of what was then acceptable, and pushed it further. He made sex into art. Something now acceptable in photography.
There are a lot of examples of people pushing limits. Right now I am reading a book on Michangelo Antionini and his movies. Boy, did he push the limits, both in imagination and execution. If you have a chance, watch his movies.
#1 How to push to your limits
#2 How to be a professional commercial photographer
The two may or may not be related. Let me deal with #1. I am not competent to give comments on #2.
Listen to zaren. Some replies are nonsense, and you know which.
About travels. Travel broadens one's mind. But travel pictures are not necessarily those that push one to the limits. True, one needs to know how to take pictures to take good travel pictures. But very often, it is the novelty and seldom seen before nature of the images that make travel pictures interesting.
With regards to this, if you could, go to Keith Carter's website. Keith is a professor of arts in Lamar University and a highly respected photographer. Of course he has pictures taken from his travels. But listen to him how he realised that he need not travel far to make good photographs. He went back to his hometown and started to make photographs.
There are other teachers such as Ruth Bernhard. Ruth is now about 100 years old! In her sell-out workshops, she often told her students to take pictures within the confine of say like 30 meters radius.
When you place "restrictions" like this, you are in fact removing restrictions to seeing, something which Picasso called "restriction is freedom".( I hope I got it right!)
To push oneself to the limits, one must stand at the edge of limits. What does it mean in photography?
Let us look at sex. When Edward Western showed the sculptural image of Charis, he was so concerned with a few stands of pubic hair which peeped out from the folded legs. Years later, ideas on sex and tolerance changed. But there are taboos at all time of civilisation. Take a look at the works of Helmut Newton. He took sex and made it into art! He stood at the threshold/limits of what was then acceptable, and pushed it further. He made sex into art. Something now acceptable in photography.
There are a lot of examples of people pushing limits. Right now I am reading a book on Michangelo Antionini and his movies. Boy, did he push the limits, both in imagination and execution. If you have a chance, watch his movies.
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