Have you ever looked back on your work and.....

[lesill]

<p>Hi Everyone,<br>

This Sunday morning I woke up early thinking about an upcoming deadline for applying to a local art/crafts show. One thing I have learned over the past two or three years is that most people will tend to buy photos that were taken in their general area. I though that was a little strange at first until I thought about the art that decorates most of my walls. Most of them are "low country" scenes from the Charleston SC area (palm trees, beaches, lighthouses, etc) buy a local artist.</p>

<p>Anyway, I digress. I was looking through my photos from the past three years and 1 - noticed that I didn't save raw files for most of my early photos (stupid), 2 - A lot of my earlier photos of the area are, to put it bluntly, Sh*t. While I have enough good shots for a show (though many of them not from here), I'm just thinking about all of those wasted shots. Maybe I'm being too critical, I don't know. I've actually sold a couple of those that I don't think are that great, but the people that bought them obviously liked them.</p>

<p>I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? </p>

[photojen]

<p>I have been shooting for little over two years now, so yes, I have a similar experience. I have so much to learn. I don't have years to compare my growth on but...I try...my family thinks I rock at photography, but I know differently~</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Yes, very much.<br>

For me, there's 2 sides to it:<br>

1. As a photographer, you should grow, learn, and get better over time. If not, I'd say you're not really on a right track. And being (too) critical towards yourself is a very good way of pushing yourself to get better.<br>

2. The longer you know a place, the better you understand the place and its photographic abilities.<br>

I used to frequent a smallish nature area close to where I live, and I've got several thousands pictures of it. The last ones are in my view certainly better - because I knew where I needed to be to get that shot I envisioned, and I knew which light did the most justice to the place.</p>

<p>But I do not think any of your (or mine) shots are wasted. They're the learning curve. And you managed to make other people happy with those shots too, which is even better. So in that respect, I would not be too critical, and just be happy that you could please others.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>Looking back at my shots from about 10 years ago, my reaction now varies between "What a piece of crap", "I should have done that better" and "What was I thinking?" I was shooting mostly film at the time and I still have all the negatives. But, since my darkroom skills weren't exactly stellar, in some cases that's not much help.</p>

[tomwatt]

<p>I think that is very normal - a part of the process of being human.<br>

I also find it difficult to hang paintings I have done on the walls, because I am always wanting to make a 'do over' to correct things that now look like I should have done better.<br>

And photos are somewhat like that. I'm always finding myself going back over the same ground, trying to do better, wanting to get a better shot, better technicals, etc. It's a journey, a path, not a destination. Smell the flowers along the way, and enjoy the adventure.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>In addition to the realization that your earlier work was sh*t, and perhaps it was--I can't judge that, there is also the phenomenon of periodically, often cyclically, <em>thinking</em> that your current or past work was bad.</p>

<p>It's likely that your work has improved if you've really worked at it and as a result of more control of the tools and so on. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that everything you did before is bad. Or even that most of it is all that bad. Nor, unfortunately, does it mean that everything you're doing now is hunky dory. The fact is that we all have down times and up times, but most of the time there isn't a lot of difference between the one and the other. For probably 15 or 20 thousand years back to the cave painters, but certainly as far back as any kind of introspective record by artists exists, artists have been burning their early works, and so on. Usually to everyone's loss.</p>

<p>Lighten up and be easier on yourself. Try working with some of the earlier files to see what can be done to improve them by cropping, not crapping.</p>

<p>By the way, after you've backed all your old jpgs up, so you have the originals somewhere where they won't be altered, you can open those old jpgs in Adobe Camera Raw if you have Bridge* and Photoshop and do a surprising amount to and with them using the same tools you would with a RAW file. If you don't "save a copy", this will alter the original jpg, hence the warning to back them up, but it is a more sensitive way of doing the highlight and shadow kind of thing among other things, including a 'clarity' adjustment that seems superior to a lot of the other sharpening tools.</p>

<p>_______<br>

*right click on the image in Bridge for a "open with acr" option.</p>

[the celt 2]

<p>Definately a learning curve. But, every now and then I go through my old negs and pick out one or two to take into my DR along with what ever new stuff I've shot. Sometimes I find a diamond in the rough. A neg that I may have passed over years ago that is actually worth the time to frame, and hang . Of course there are the others that fall into the "wasted film" catagory too.</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>One thing I've been blessed with in my tenure in photography is having shot mega-quantities of images. The fact that I still do that now means I don't have to go back as far in order to find content. I also redo post processing on older scans/images, and find that my vision is better than it used to be. But I also look back at my prints and realize that I used to be a much better print technician.</p>

[vrankin]

<p>I'm freelancing in the Midwest. Editors will sometimes pick my "also ran" submissions and totally ignore my favorites. It's subjective, after all. The viewer may not like the same things as I.</p>

[thomas_sullivan]

<p>I've been shooting pictures since 1973. I have every negative, every slide (except the absolutely truely screwed up ones), every original digital image....RAW or jpg, every scanned neg or slide file, and any important "along the editting path" files that I have ever taken. And I shoot a horendous amount of pics for a 95% hobbiest photographer.</p>

<p>But, on occasion i do go back thru portions of it. I don't even get to the point where I think my earlier stuff was crap.....I knew it then, and most of it still is. Most of it...........but, there are those little diamonds in the rough that pop up every once in awhile that leave me thinking I must have way too drunk to be editting pics when I last looked at this one ;-) </p>

[joshua_mortel]

<p>Lee,</p>

<p>If you're selling photos then you are doing something right. I couldn't sell a photo if my life depended on it --I am just not a good salesperson. I think that I too would buy photos of places I know. As a photographer I find it very difficult to separate myself from a subject that I care about to remain objective --our memories are connected to the process of being there. It's like a doctor that can't operate on her child. Even if I could go some place and easily take the photo myself, I would rather buy one taken by someone else... just to make sure they saw that something too, and captured it well.</p>

<p>I don't think you are alone in looking back at past work and feeling that it was no good. There are many aspects of making a good photograph... there is your technical knowledge, mastery of your equipment, mastery of the place, etc. You should be glad that your eyes and techniques are improving; that you are still learning and that you are aware of it. What don't you like about your old photos? It must be something deeper that you cannot fix in post production...?</p>

<p>The medicine, of course, is to go out and take more pictures :) also, to read The Luminous Landscape. Show your photos to someone you trust and get their opinion. Continue to compare your work to other photographers, to the greats, to magazine ads and hold yourself to an impossible standard of beauty. Most important: Don't give up! The day you are happy with your photography will be the end of the world, trust me :)</p>

<p>-J</p>

[mpblaze]

<p>I have to say, yes. most of my early pics are just crap!</p>

[Andy Collins]

<p>I have a lot of old pictures that, when looking at them now, I think are crap. At the time I really liked a lot of them, but even back then (around '89 when I got really serious about photography) there were quite a few pictures that I knew were crap. As far as photographing one's surroundings, even when I only had an Olympus p&s camera, my goal was to try and capture the beauty in my everyday surroundings and to help others realize that the places they passed by each day were really full of beauty. I continue to make that one of my photographic goals, whether it's with my soon-to-be-delivered Canon 7D or my Minolta XD-11.</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

I addition to the above responses I think there are several other factors at work. One is that your tastes change as you age. Another is that as your tastes change the equipment you use changes. Also when you are first starting out you are impressed by a lot of technically difficult photos and you hope to be able to emulate them. Now I can look at them and appreciate the skill that went into them but have no desire to make anything similar. And frankly a lot of clicking was done to try to finish up a roll of film to see how one of the first pictures turned out.

[je ne regrette rien]

<p>I believe that the reaction to old photos, but also to many other types of work, can often be negative.<br>

The reason probably is that we are <em><strong>not </strong> <strong>detached</strong> </em> from what we see. It's part of us, we are involved in them, positively, but often negatively. I suggest to try to compare your pictures and others, substantially similar to yours. I do that. You will balance your self-criticism.<br>

When I look back I see my photos, the evident mistakes in exposure, framing, developing, contrast, printing. It's not that there are not interesting ones, but we grow in capability and ability, thus in criticism.<br>

Another issue is the major lack of self-criticism when people post pictures they blatantly define "art".<br>

I would suggest not to become hyper-critic in respect to our former work, but to try to look at it with detached eyes. Considering whether we have respected the "rules" or not, and whether there is some kind of reason of "breaking the rules".</p>

[mark_drutz]

<p>This is a hobby for me. It's supposed to be fun. Beating myself up over my photos, new or old, would not add to the fun. I look at all of my photos, new or old, good and bad, as learning experiences.</p>

[lesill]

<p>Thanks for all of your feedback. It is always interesting to read comments from the diverse crowd here at photo.net. Lee</p>

[mike dixon]

<p><em>While I have enough good shots for a show (though many of them not from here), I'm just thinking about all of those wasted shots.</em></p>

<p>They're not wasted shots. You develop your skills and vision by going out, shooting, and trying to achieve things that you haven't achieved yet. Taking bad photos is just part of the process of making better photos. It's actually a very good thing that you're disappointed with most of your earlier work; it indicates you're raising your standards.</p>

[ymmij]

<p>This goes for art in general. I 'updated' a few old graphic design college projects with my current knowledge and made them even better. My photography has improved as my camera knowledge has, knowing (and luck) is half the battle.</p>