If you are reading a photography blog it is because somehow you are attracted to this world . You may simply like to travel and have photographic memories of your travels and you walk around here for some advice, or that you do not want to miss a little face of your adorable baby, for example, and that your passion does not go beyond. Although let me doubt it, you wouldn't be reading this article precisely. If you are here it is because your interest goes beyond. Do you like photography. A lot. The question now is whether you like it only for some of your free time or are you passionate enough to devote a good part of your life to it. If you would like to be called photographer or photographer one day, live by this art or, even if you have another way of making a living, that photography be your life partner, your other self, with what you identify, express yourself and what they know you You can be a great photographer who makes exhibitions and who buy his photos even if your main salary comes from working in an office, for example. If you dream of something like that, it's because photography runs through your veins, and that can't be helped. The only remedy that exists is to let her run free, listen to her needs. In today's article I will give you the keys that characterize a vein photographer. Some of these come from the factory (in your genes), others you can develop with practice and enthusiasm . Want to meet them?
1. KNOWLEDGE
I will start with the most basic knowledge. There are great photographers in history who never studied photography, right. There are people born with a gift, we have commented on other occasions, although it is not usual, not everyone is Mozart, nor Frida Kahlo or Vivian Maier who were born with a special potential. Typically, you need training, photographic knowledge. The more you know about something else, you realize how little you know, right? The same happens here. Your acquaintances may praise you for your photos and believe that you can already dedicate yourself to it, but it is not so, you must learn mainly about composition, but also about technique. If you don't know what focal length or aperture is, the road will be much more difficult. To acquire this knowledge, you can go to an approved school in your city, if your idea is to dedicate yourself professionally to photography is the most recommended; take an online course such as the School of the Photographer , or be self-taught, that is, read many books or blogs like this and, above all, practice to strengthen what they have learned.2. VISION AND CURIOSITY
You will be of no use knowledge if you do not look at the world with eyes other than how others look. You must be curious about everything around you, see and feel what others do not see, observe from different perspectives , look for new scenarios and look at the world with a different approach.3. CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION
There can be no artist without creativity or imagination. These two qualities go hand in hand with the word artist. Creativity is what drives you to constantly create, with a camera, a guitar or a brush and a can of paint. If you are not a creative person or one who strives to be, you can hardly consider yourself an artist either in photography or in any other artistic discipline.4. TAKE RISKS
Wanting to try new things is another quality that will distinguish you from the rest of the mortals who carry a reflex to the neck, however expensive it may be. Find new directions, risk skipping rules , make mistakes that may be the key to the success of the image or try where no one has ever tried. This is what has allowed us to enjoy the advances in photography. Without people like Harold Edgerton, a pioneer of high-speed photography, who created a flash to capture the movement, we would continue to take photos under a cloth. This does not mean that you necessarily have to do an engineering work, but do achieve something that differentiate you from others, something you have not seen, at least try5. PASSION
Passion will be one of the characteristics that will function as the engine of the rest. If you don't feel an unstoppable passion for this world, forget it. You will not get very far, look for something for which you really feel passion and follow that path, which will be the one that takes you high. To achieve something big, something important you need to put a lot of passion, infinite enthusiasm, otherwise you will end up throwing the towel at the first disappointment and, believe me, in this way you will find many. You will know if you are one of those who put passion if you do not mind spending a sleepless night to capture the stars , hit an early fifteenth to photograph the fog , there is no birthday or Christmas when you do not fall a gift related to photography, Do not leave without your camera and not carry it on it is not an impediment to continue photographing everything you see, your trips you remember almost through a viewfinder, no matter whether it is Monday or Sunday that you want to go out to take pictures and you still think that you Best picture is yet to be done. These are some of the clues that will tell you if what you feel is passion for this art or just a flirt6. RESOURCES
When I talk about resources I do not mean those of the team or those you find on the web , but the resources themselves, that you are a decisive person, that if you have forgotten a diffuser at home, you are able to solve it; if the weather fails you, you can turn the tortilla around and make the best of the day; or if the monument you were going to photograph is closed to the public, be able to find how to take a little piece home with you.7. OPTIMISM
This is also another quality of what I call motor, like passion. Optimism will be in charge of not throwing in the towel, getting up at five in the morning to photograph a sunrise and stoically chasing a two-year-old baby to make a portrait. Because nobody convinces you that you will not achieve it8. COMMUNICATION
You will have to develop your communication skills. On the one hand, to express your ideas through your images. You need to be able to tell what you feel through photography, that is communication. If you don't communicate, your images will be empty and have no interest to anyone. On the other hand, your communication capacity will help you to involve other people in your projects, as protagonists of the images, as assistants, as collaborators or whatever you need. In addition you will also need it to promote yourself and get your work seen by the public. Vivian Maier was nobody until his reels were revealed and his work could be admired. So that something like this doesn't happen to you, you can always create your own online gallery .9. PERSISTENCE
Persistence, patience, perseverance ... It is very easy to fall into frustration , in fact it is practically obligatory or inevitable, what distinguishes a photographer from a mere amateur is the ability to overcome that frustration, the need to get over it and not let yourself be dragged by the negative feeling. Edgerton, the photographer I've talked about before, took twenty-five years to get his famous drop of milk . He discarded all the deformed drops until he achieved the one that formed a perfect crown. Five decades, a quarter of a century! Do you know how much passion, persistence and optimism this man should have?10. LUCK
And luck not of luck with lowercase, that which falls with the lottery or similar, but Luck with capital, the one that is sought, that is worked every day. It is the one you find when you have prepared the road, you have worked, you have studied, you have not thrown in the towel, you have cured a gallery, people know you for your work and just that exact day you are in the most appropriate place where you are Cross a person who proposes you to edit a book with your work or lends you its prestigious gallery to expose your work. If there is no path behind, the luck of meeting that person will pass by your side and you will not even notice.11. OWN STYLE
This is very easy to say and very difficult to achieve, which does not mean that it is impossible. You can have your own style from the moment you shoot your first photo, but this is also not usual. You will find your own style based on walking and choosing the paths that you like the most, where you feel most comfortable. You will have to unlearn photography to find your style and shoot many times and many types of images until that style comes into view. Don't give up, remember: persistence. How many of these qualities do you already have? Surely with several of them, so the road will be easier. Remember, if you have passion, the rest can be achieved with persistence and optimism Did you find it useful? If so, I would thank you to the infinity that you share it with your contacts. Thank you and see you soon!