I’m new to the hobby and I thought this would be an interesting discussion question. Greatness is subjective, of course, so I’m not talking greatness in terms of being ranked against all photos taken in the world (unless that’s personally the benchmark you choose to rate yourself on). What I’m really asking is how often do you personally feel fulfilled with your photography? Whether you go out daily on photography walks, take your camera everywhere all the time, or just do a ton of professional gigs, what I want to know is how often do you think “Wow, I got a great shot there. I’m really proud of this one.”? Do you have several every time do take photographs, maybe one a day, or is it few and far between for you? How do you feel about coming home from a photo session and feeling that you didn’t really get anything good? For those that do professional client work, how do you feel if you finish a pro gig and don’t feel like you got anything all that special (even though it may be good enough to warrant your professional standards)? On a second note, if you do professional gigs like weddings and such, do you ever aim to get something unique and original or are you more focused on making sure you get everything on your standard checklist of photos your clients expect to have?
I usually have a shot or two from most shoots that I like, but I can only think of a handful of shots from the past 10+ years that I consider “great”. I can’t even guess how many photos I’ve taken in that time, if I somehow did the math and realized that only one out of every 10,000 shots was genuinely great I wouldn’t be surprised.
That said, as I’ve gained experience I do feel that I get consistently good shots much more often. I think part of why I haven’t gotten many exceptional shots is because I have a deeper understanding of what a good shot even is. As I’ve become more capable as a photographer I am able to more consistently take good photos, but my standards for what I consider to be exceptional have also gone up.