Failing

Quintet (click to enlarge)
Nikon D70, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 34mm; 1/320th sec. @ f/9; ISO 200

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I hate to fail.  And...I almost never use the word "hate" as I find the word too harsh and distasteful, but I hate failing.  For me it is as simple as that.  I also understand failure is imperative in order to learn, grow, understand, better myself and finally, achieve success.

Let me now revise my first sentence.  I don't mind failure as long as the failure is not the end state.  What do I mean by that?  If I am trying to solve a problem, learn a new skill, improve an existing skill, etc., I don't mind failing as an intermediate stage in the process for as I stated above as I believe failures are necessary for success.  What I won't ever settle for is failing, then giving up.  Failure as an end state.  Failure as finality.  I could never be satisfied with myself that I did or tried everything possible and just gave up if, in the end, I accepted failure.  But that is just me.

What reminded me of my failures in photography and in life, was trying to photograph birds-in-flight recently and over the past several years.  I have a lot (A LOT!) more failures than successes.  Still do.  I've had a lot more failures in photography in general than successes over the past 48 years.  In fact, in my lifetime and in every aspect of my life, I've probably failed a lot more times than I have succeeded, but I persisted with great determination and was able to become highly successful in my life.  For that I am thankful and grateful.  I attribute much of my success in life to not being the best but being the most persistent and the most prepared when an opportunities arise.  I used to tell my kids when they were young that when preparation meets opportunity, that can equal success.

If I do fail, I go back and analyze as to why I failed, make corrections then get back out there and do it again. Over and over and over again.  By doing so, my "hit" rate or rate of successful birds-in-flight photographs has risen.  It is not how many times I've failed that is important to me, but how many times I've been determined to get back at it again and overcome each of those failures.  You are only a failure if you give up without expending every avenue of effort.

One of the classic examples of failure or low rates of success are baseball players.  Most professional baseball players, when speaking of hitting, fail almost 8 out of 10 times at bat.  The really good ones today fail almost 7 out of 10 times at bat.  A batting average over .300 is considered very good in today's Major League Baseball.  Ted Williams, way back in 1941 (77 years ago!), was the last player to have a batting average for an entire season over .400 (.406 to be precise), which is unheard of today. Still, that represents a 60% failure rate!  The highest seasonal batting average ever recorded in the history of baseball was .440 in 1894 by a player for the Boston Beaneaters by the name of Hugh Duffy.  The very best batting average EVER was still a failure rate of over 50%!

The point is that failures aren't always a 100% loss.  Failures can be relative according to the task at hand.  The other point is that all of these baseball players have batting coaches and they are continuously trying to do better.  None of them, as competitive as they are and as professionals, settle for a low batting average.  They are trying to continuously lower their failure rate.

So it is with photography.  If you make bad exposures, take out of focus images, don't understand what good composition is, regularly use the wrong shutter speeds or mess up with your depth of field, only you have the wherewithal to lessen your failures and increase your success rate.  No one can do it for you.  If you really care about your photography, you will do everything within your means to be the best photographer you can be.  You will do whatever it takes to learn, grow, practice, assess and then go back out and try again.

You may never be the best photographer in the world, but you can strive to be the best that you can be.  Even at the end of the day, if you are a so-so photographer but you have done everything you can possibly do to become better and have gotten up each time you have been proverbially knocked down, you are still a success and have every right to be proud of your work.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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