Emotion, Satisfaction (Or Lack Thereof) and Your Photographs

I made this image because I liked what I saw.  (click to enlarge)  I liked the interplay of the three dominant colors as well as the contrast in objects, soft versus hard, living versus non-living, moving versus still, and how they balance in the scene.  I don't photograph to please others, just for my own satisfaction.  If others like my images, that is appreciated but not essential to my photography.  As I viewed this scene, the colors were muted but in my mind I envisioned this image as you see it here..
X-T2, 50-140mm f/2.8 lens + 1.4x tele-converter @ 180.9mm; 1/17th sec. @ f/16; ISO 200

I know many friends and fellow photographers who worry if their photographs are or are not good.  I used to worry, now I realize unnecessarily, that my images weren't very good and they wouldn't measure up.  Long ago I stopped worrying about what others say about my images and if my images please others.  Photographically, I only try to please myself.

What you think are good photographs may or may not be when judged by so-called experts or even the general public.  The lens through which you view your own photographs is clouded by your memory of the experience making the images and the emotion you attach to your images.  No one but you knows what you saw, what you envisioned, why a particular scene evoked an emotion in you that caused you to make an image of it or what gyrations and challenges you may have gone through to get a particular image. It is all very near and dear to your heart but, as I said, no one knows that. 

You love the image because of a) the emotion you felt when you first saw it and caused you to want to photograph it and b), all of the things you experienced while making the image—the light, the place, the time, the mood, the color, etc.  Others may not like it as much as you or even at all.  That's okay.  What is meaningful is that you like and enjoy your images.

I always recommend photographing for yourself and not to try to please or impress others. If you photograph for yourself, you get to be your own critic.  Don't worry what others may think or not think.  Don't put too much effort into fretting over whether or not an image is or is not good.  If the image pleases you, then it is a good image, in your eyes. That is really what counts.  After all, it is your eyes, your vision and your brain with which you live.  

Now, there is one up-side to seeking approval. That is improvement.  Instead of worrying about whether or not someone likes your images, I recommend seeking out a photographer friend you admire and asking for constructive criticism about your work. Constructive criticism is valuable and can help not only your photographs, but also raise the level of your own satisfaction.

Go out and photograph for yourself and don't worry about anything but discovering, photographing and making images that evoke an emotion in you.  You will be your own critic and you will the one to smile at your finished result.  In other words, you will be a happy photographer.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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