5 Mistakes Every Photographer Makes

I wanted to write this, not as a guide from someone who’s got everything figured out but as someone who has made plenty of mistakes along the way and still counting… When I first got into photography, I thought it was all about the camera, but it really wasn’t.

My first mistake would be misconception. Yes photography is about the camera but then there’s the aftermath… Storage becomes an issue faster than you think. At first, it’s manageable; a few shoots here and there, everything neatly saved. BANG! Files build up, more shoots come, RAW images fill up fast and before you know it you’re sorting through thousands of photos trying to figure out what needs deleting. Though external drives and cloud storages may help, it becomes more like file managing than actually creating.

Then there’s the editing. What looks like a simple process from the outside can actually take hours. Going through hundreds of photos, narrowing them down, adjusting to each image, cropping, colour grading - it feels like a never ending cycle. Not to mention the slow software, lagging and long export times. At times this can take the enjoyment out of the final image. It is easy to underestimate how much the hardware side of photography impacts the speed, the set up and the overall enjoyment. However, learning how to manage that side of things is just as important as learning how to take the photo. Behind every image is a whole system maintaining it.

Now for criticism. One of the biggest mistakes I made was comparing myself to my peers and others in a negative way. It is so easy to scroll through peoples work and feel like you’re not doing enough or like your work isn’t enough. But what you don’t focus on is the time and failures that they took to get there. Everyone is capable of different work and rather than comparing my work in a negative way I have tried to use it as inspiration to further my own images and use it as a learning curve.

Not shooting enough was a big mistake for me in early years. And due to being a perfectionist I though that waiting for the right moment was the only need to take photos. But I learned that not all moments can be timed, some are spontaneous. There’s no right location, right conditions there’s consistency. And when I am shooting, I will now find that 99% of the time I have took an image unplanned and found potential in it and it became one of my strongest images.

Lastly, was avoidance. Avoiding shoots out of anxiety, avoiding making connections out of fear of rejection… I stuck to what felt safe because then I knew I wouldn’t get hurt. But what do I have to lose? Once a rookie photographer, limiting myself, meant I wasn’t giving myself potential for growth. Scrap the fear. I reached out, made posters, made connections, said yes to shoots out of my comfort zone. Should it had not been for that, I wouldn’t have been at the level I am today or learned nearly half as much.

So if you’re starting out, deep in or whoever; don’t aim to get everything right. Keep learning and let the mistakes shape your style.