Photographer's Insecurity

[green_photog]

<p>I only personally like about 30% of the weddings I did and the rest are all kind of hovering around average. But apart from a few reticent brides that I never heard back from, I got great reviews from the brides.</p>

<p>After this last wedding, I got a glowing email from the bride saying how much she loved the pictures and she would like me to do a set of senior pictures for her sister next year. I was a little embarrassed by her email because I know the set was average at best by my book. I was frustrated because this last wedding had great potential in terms of photography but it just didn't turn out the way I wanted to.</p>

<p>Every time I go to a job, I have this fear that the bride might not like my work. The fear is worse now then when I first started out, about 40 weddings ago which is strange considering the positive feedback I got from the previous brides.</p>

<p>For those of you who have done it much longer, does the fear go away with experience? My confidence actually goes down and the fear increases the more weddings I do and the more experience I gain.</p>

<p> </p>

[mccosh]

<p>Hi Green,</p>

<p>I think we are our worse critics. I am also a wedding photographer who is continually striving to achieve better results. I think that the day we stop trying to improve is the day we need to give up this profession and move on to something else. You no doubt have a portfolio of your work that you show to prospective couples so they have a fairly good idea of your work beforehand and have booked you on your past work. So unless your work on this occasion is substandard to your norm then the couple should have no complaints.</p>

<p>When you say average is this average against your peers (other professional wedding photographers). If this is the case then you are not doing to bad a job, however do continue to strive to improve in the mean time don't knock yourself to much.</p>

<p>I appreciate where you are coming from and I think we all feel the same to some degree and is what drives us to improve our photography and this is a good thing. Would be nice to have a link to some of your work so that we can see first hand samples of your photography.</p>

<p>Regards<br /> John</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Part of the insecurity never goes away. However, it is manageable.</p>

<p>1. If you prepared the bride re expectations and if you gathered as much information--both factual and intuitive--about what the bride likes and expects, there shouldn't be too much insecurity if you know you did well. If you know you didn't do well (in comparison to what was shown to the bride or what you think she expects), then insecurity rises.</p>

<p>2. Use the insecurity to keep yourself sharp on the day. Channel this and nervousness into energy boosters. Also use insecurity to keep you focused on good communications with the bride/couple and the setting of clear expectations.</p>

[mariosforsos]

<p>WE're all pretty much the same - some more and some less - and what I do to keep me sane is compare my work to that of photographers all around me (fortunately only locally - within the country - 'cause if I was looking internationally, I'd be damn-near suicidal!) As it stands, most of the time (always depending on the wedding conditions - unfortunately in Greece 99.5% of weddings take place indoors, in the dark, with artificial lighting, in really crammed quarters, so the degree of creativity allowed approaches 0%) I do pretty well... the times that I don't, well, I chalk it up to experience and move ahead.</p>

<p>But no, fear of the final outcome does not go away with experience - it's just that your confidence levels go up and that somehow counterbalances the anxiety and somehow enables you to be more relaxed while you work and that usually leads to better performance.</p>

[markonestudios]

<blockquote>

<p>For those of you who have done it much longer, does the fear go away with experience?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>On or before a wedding, I don't feel fear, I only feel butterflies ;) A combination of the adrenaline rush, slight nerves and anticipation. I'm not sure fear is healthy, to be honest. You should have enough confidence in your ability and technical skills. It is healthy to critique yourself but not to the point where you doubt yourself.</p>

[lindsay_dobson]

<p>Green, remind yourself that the client must like your work, otherwise they would not have hired you in the first place. </p>

<p>And as has been said, we are usually our own worst critics. </p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>I don't really have much insecurity about my work, but I am always wishing this or that would have been better. Oddly enough, it seems to me that the better you get/the more experienced you get, the more critical you become of each wedding.<br>

Don't worry about your quality if you are being hired, but never stop learning and looking for new and better results.</p>

[cliff_nj]

<p>My wife and I have a regular routine. After a wedding, I walk in the door and she asks "How did it go?" I always reply, " Oh my God, I didn't get anything...Nothing...not a single good shot...I'm a complete failure" She laughs. I laugh and crack a beer, and begin the download. Withing minutes I am parading around the house pronouncing myself the Greatest Wedding Photojournalist Alive!<br>

Analyze that!?</p>

[savagesax]

I'm never comfortable at weddings until it's over. Before photography I was a pretty decent musician even got to play a tour with Cher. I'm always a bit tense and nervous. I think if you really care about your work there is always some sort of edginess with every job. Part of the problem is the location and the amount of time you have. Some locations simply suck, but it's your studio in a sense and you have to make it work.

 

I can't go to bed after a wedding, even if the wedding ends at 2 AM or something. I can't sleep! It's crazy. I have to load all of the cards and look at some of the creative images, seeing if they turned out the way I wanted. After that I load the images in some other hard drives and a DVD as backups.

[savagesax]

I'm never comfortable at weddings until it's over. Before photography I was a pretty decent musician even got to play a tour with Cher. I'm always a bit tense and nervous. I think if you really care about your work there is always some sort of edginess with every job. Part of the problem is the location and the amount of time you have. Some locations simply suck, but it's your studio in a sense and you have to make it work.

 

I can't go to bed after a wedding, even if the wedding ends at 2 AM or something. I can't sleep! It's crazy. I have to load all of the cards and look at some of the creative images, seeing if they turned out the way I wanted. After that I load the images in some other hard drives and a DVD as backups.

[savagesax]

I'm never comfortable at weddings until it's over. Before photography I was a pretty decent musician even got to play a tour with Cher. I'm always a bit tense and nervous. I think if you really care about your work there is always some sort of edginess with every job. Part of the problem is the location and the amount of time you have. Some locations simply suck, but it's your studio in a sense and you have to make it work.

 

I can't go to bed after a wedding, even if the wedding ends at 2 AM or something. I can't sleep! It's crazy. I have to load all of the cards and look at some of the creative images, seeing if they turned out the way I wanted. After that I load the images in some other hard drives and a DVD as backups.

[ricardovaste]

<p>Very little experience but my advise so far is: <em>Keep The Crazy Out</em>.</p>

[marcsaint]

<p>I have to echo Cliff in that when I come home feeling my pictures are going to be awful and boy, are they going to be mad at me, the pictures end up looking just fine. The opposite can also be true, feeling like you shot the best wedding of your life only to find the pictures average or worse. Maybe shooting film -- and having to wait a week before you saw the pictures -- had some advantages......</p>

 

[melissapapajphotography]

<p>I always, always, always hate my pictures :( I always find everything I could have done better and it seems like the more I learn and know about photography, the worse I get. Good luck!</p>

[cyrus_procter]

<p>I have only ever shot one complete wedding by myself (several with another photographer), but I have made quite a number of films, around the world and with very famous people, in the capacity of Director of Photography, so one could say I am a photographer of moving images, and I have many of the same fears being discussed here. I agree with the other people, that fear is what drives one to do our best. I think fear drives our intuition, it forces us to reach deep inside ourselves to pull something real out, to put it on the line. If we weren't in fear, there would be no motivation to take a piece of ourselves and put it into a project. Somewhere deep inside I think we all want to be at the place where we don't fear, as though if conquering fear will be an indication of our mastering photography, we will finally be able to do what we do without worrying. I suppose some people could, but I have yet to be able to find a way to do so. Fear is what currently drives my creativity. Its the gasoline in my engine, the explosive substance that drives me forward.</p>

[frolickingbits]

<p>I would say if you ever think your photographs are perfect and there is nothing to improve, you should probably start worrying....part of being a good photographer is knowing that there is always something that you can learn, ways that a photograph could be improved.<br>

Finding the balance between a healthy level of humility and confidence is a difficult battle, and one that I am still fighting.</p>

[suzyq]

There is an excellent book on this very subject, "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orlando.

[Dave Gardner]

<p>Fear is good...it keeps you on your toes. I don't think it ever goes away....</p>