On average what would you say is your success rate when you go out to shoot? And what’s your experience level?
For myself who has a passion for photography but zero formal training and only purchased my first real camera less than a year ago, I’d say 1% of the pictures that I take are “good” or at least to the point to where I’d share them.
I know a lot comes from just going out and taking pictures but I feel like the gaps between when I go out and take pictures and actually sit at the computer and look at them is so spread out that I can never remember what I did or was thinking last time I was out shooting
I shoot street so everything looks like shit. In a year, I’ll have less than 10 photos that I’m truly proud of.
When I first started to get into photography I was friends with a full time professional photographer that owned a studio business and shot magazine covers. He’d been shooting for many years and made incredible images. I asked him how many good photos he’d taken over the last years and he thought for a minute and said, “Six”. I understand that. As you get better you start to be more self critical.
I have a masters in photography now and I think that my “good” photos are only good because they are in successful dialogue with other photos. Really the question I’d ask is, what projects are good. I have two projects that I think are decent.
This is a good thing to point out. “Photos I’m willing to at least share” are usually something you can find. “Photos I’m proud of”, because I imagined a shot, made all setup and preparation, and it worked out? Way smaller set.
Yeah, that’s a great way of saying it. And just because I don’t think my photos are excellent doesn’t mean I don’t want to share them. I still want to share “okay” photos.