Your Photography is Yours

 

I love watching Youtube. If there wasn't such a platform, it needed to be invented. I learned so much from all those fantastic folks who share their knowledge and passion. A big Thank You to Youtube!

Youtube is also a nice way to learn English for a foreigner like me. Understanding spoken English is not an easy task and takes practice.

But this posting is a warning to all those video addicts. Especially in photography, I  see a lot of influencers who are dangerously self centered. They might be professionals. But their photography is not the only way to take pictures. Let's write it on the wall.

Your photography is yours!

You can and should learn new skills from those Influencers. You can even listen to and appreciate a different view. But don't let them confuse you. Before adapting other styles or techniques, make sure you do not destroy your own.

It should be obvious that Youtube advice has to be taken with care. For, you can find different and even opposite positions there. In many cases, both sides were somewhat right, only presenting different sides of the same coin.

As an example, take the advice to shoot wide open all the time. What you should learn from such a video is, how a fast lens can create object isolation and a special look to your images. What you should not learn is that this is the only way to get good photos. You might find another video, just as convincing, telling you that Bokeh does not matter that much, and good subjects, good light, and a good composition are all you need. That's also true. But it is a different style.

The worst videos I found are telling you that your photography sucks. They might add how bad they were too when they were young, but how they now learned from the masters. Of course, we all can learn from others. But rest assured that the advocated fine art photography or those carefully constructed street shots are not the only way to take good pictures.

In the end, it is you or your clients which have to like the images. You can share them, and find other folks who like them. You might even slowly find out that they were not as good as you thought. But it is your process of learning. To be pushed into a specific direction by an influencer is not the right way to progress. Seriously consider all advice, but stick to your own style.