Between 2008 and late 2016, I took tens of thousands of pictures and proudly vomited the vast majority of them online. While I’d toyed around with things like depth of field and long exposures, I didn’t understand anything about photography, so my camera rarely left ‘auto’. I’d checked out an online tutorial or two, but as far as I was concerned, ‘exposure compensation’ was something victims got after winning a public indecency lawsuit.
Had I not come across the work of this professional when I did, I may very well still be taking mediocre snapshots in blissful ignorance. From there, I continued to seek out the work of famous photographers with huge followings for inspiration and to further my own growth. Over the years that followed, my work continued to improve thanks to the guidance I was getting via YouTube videos, breathtaking portfolios, photography outlets, and critiques from my peers.
With the lesser-known photographers I follow, I’m sometimes surprised by what I see on social media. One week it’s a panoramic landscape, the following week it’s dog portraits, and then a few days later it’s food photography. Are you sacrificing quality when you shift from one type of photography to another? Sure, but when you don’t have any expectations to live up to, it doesn’t really matter.
This is where I feel The Mystery Box aspect really helped the lesser-known photographers I follow, and thus my viewing experience. While many of the famous photographers I follow resorted to re-posts or simply became inactive, most of the photography hobbyists I follow found ways to stay active, even if it meant photographing the mundane or shooting something completely different.
However, as I continued to shoot and share photos, I noticed something. My work was getting better, but it was still light years behind the work I was seeing posted by others on a daily basis. What once inspired me to keep shooting, soon led to a mentality resulting in fewer and fewer successful outings. If the conditions weren’t quite right, no shot. If I couldn’t find the perfect composition, no shot. If a single person was in the frame, no shot.
Whether it be a comment, DM, or the contact page on their website, I’ve found that the likelihood of getting a response from someone is much higher, the lower their profile is. Apologies if this comes across as entitled, but if you’re not willing to engage in the social aspect of social media, then I feel like I’m not getting the full experience.
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