Recent Changes in My Photography

I received a notification that the article I wrote the other day was selected as one of last week's most liked articles.

For this article, I didn't think about trying to write well; I just wrote exactly what I felt.

And because of that, more people than usual read it.

I don't have children, but I feel like someone just complimented my own child. Thank you.

Recent changes in my photography

Over the past six months or so, my approach to photography has changed significantly in two ways.

Specifically,
I stopped being conscious of "Instagrammability," and I've become able to enjoy taking photos.

I stopped being conscious of "Instagrammability"

As I wrote in April, I stopped trying to take photos that aim for "Instagrammability" or a "film-like" look.

When I look at photos where I sought a "film-like" look, even though I was the one who edited them, I find myself tilting my head and wondering, "Why did I make the colors like this?"

Natural colors, with just a slight adjustment to brightness and contrast. That is enough.

If it were me six months ago, I would have looked at this photo, thought it was "plain," and opened Lightroom.

"Photos with normal colors are boring."

Because I was acting like a cynical middle schooler, it took me over ten years to be able to take photos with decent colors.

I've become able to enjoy taking photos

For the past few years, before even taking a shot, I was only thinking about whether the photo would get a lot of engagement.

The desire to be told "You're good at photography" or "You're amazing" came first.

When I first started with a camera, I should have just been happy that I could take pictures with better image quality than a smartphone or that the background would blur. That should have been enough to enjoy it.
That should have been enough to enjoy it.

A hobby or activity that you can't continue unless you are praised by someone and get likes is not healthy.

On the internet, there are masters who are praised for their photography dozens or hundreds of times more than I am.

There is no end to comparing yourself to others.

That unbridgeable gap was painful.
Soon, photography became boring.

Lately, photography is fun again, just like when I first started.

I realized that I don't need 'Instagrammability' or 'likes'.

I take photos because it's fun.
The number of photos I love is increasing.
It makes me want to take more.

This cycle.

Since I've also started shooting in RAW lately, my hard drive space is running out fast (lol).

Recently, I had the opportunity to see the Lightroom screen of a professional photographer working on the front lines.

I thought pros hit the mark every time and didn't take unnecessary photos.

I was wrong.

They were taking an incredible amount of photos.
It's no exaggeration to say they were taking over 100 times more photos than I was.

Photos of family, photos while traveling, photos of work.

Whether they were blurry or might be deleted later,
they were just shooting away.

They select from there and use the good photos.

Even pros who make a living from photography are shooting a huge 'number' of photos.

I felt a bit embarrassed that I had been acting pretentious, thinking, 'I should take each shot carefully.'

Rather than spending time wondering whether to shoot or not,
I just take one shot for now.

are enough for me now.