“Photography is not the pursuit of perfection. It is the pursuit of seeing. The moment you stop fearing an imperfect image is the moment your imagination becomes free.” – MJ Martin
Perfection Is the Wrong Destination
Perfection is a myth. In photography, it may also be one of the greatest obstacles to creativity.
Modern cameras encourage us to believe otherwise. Autofocus systems recognize eyes, stabilization eliminates movement, sensors provide extraordinary dynamic range, and software can correct exposure, noise, distortion, colour and even unwanted objects. We can examine an image at 100 percent magnification and discover flaws that nobody looking at the finished photograph would ever notice.
The danger is that photographers begin judging photographs like engineers inspecting machined parts. Sharpness replaces emotion. Noise replaces atmosphere. Technical compliance replaces imagination.
A photograph does not need to be perfect. It needs to say something.
Technique Is the Vocabulary, Not the Story
Technical competence certainly matters. A photographer should understand aperture, shutter speed, ISO, light, composition, lenses and focus. These are the vocabulary of photography.
But knowing every word in the dictionary does not make someone a great novelist.
Photography begins when technique becomes sufficiently instinctive that the photographer can stop thinking about the camera and start thinking about the world.
A slightly blurred child running toward a parent may communicate more than an immaculately sharp studio portrait. A silhouette might contain almost no shadow detail yet communicate mystery beautifully. Grain, motion, unusual framing, flare and deep shadows can all become creative elements rather than defects.
This distinction has scientific support. Research examining perfectionism and creativity found that striving for high standards can sometimes improve quality, but excessive perfectionism does not continually improve creativity. The relationship can resemble an inverted U: beyond a certain point, more perfectionism ceases to help. (ScienceDirect)
Give Yourself Permission to Fail
Creativity requires experimentation, and experimentation requires the possibility of failure.
Canada’s own arts institutions recognize this principle. The Canada Council for the Arts explicitly encourages Canadian artists to investigate creative processes and take artistic risks through its Explore and Create program. Its research describes experimentation, innovation and moving beyond established approaches as important parts of artistic development. (Canada Council for the Arts)
That philosophy applies perfectly to photography.
Change the angle. Break the composition rules. Photograph into the sun. Drag the shutter. Use an old lens. Shoot monochrome. Deliberately underexpose. Photograph reflections instead of subjects. Leave negative space where conventional wisdom says you should not.
Most experiments will not produce masterpieces.
That is precisely the point.
Research involving visual artists has even associated maladaptive perfectionistic tendencies with creative block. (ScienceDirect) When every photograph must justify itself as exceptional, experimentation becomes psychologically expensive.
Stop Photographing for Other Photographers
Perhaps the greatest trap is producing photographs designed primarily to survive criticism.
* Is it tack sharp?
* Are the highlights clipped?
*Is the horizon perfectly level?
* Is there noise at ISO 6400?
These questions have legitimate technical value, but they are secondary to a much larger question:
Does the photograph make someone feel something?
The photograph that remains in someone’s memory is rarely remembered because of its modulation transfer function, pixel-level sharpness or histogram.
It is remembered because it captured a moment, revealed a personality, preserved a memory or showed an ordinary subject in an extraordinary way.
Chase Curiosity Instead
The better goal is not perfection. It is curiosity.
Walk somewhere without knowing what you intend to photograph. Carry one lens instead of six. Photograph subjects you normally ignore. Make pictures that nobody else needs to like.
The camera should be a passport to exploration, not an examination you are frightened of failing.
So ask yourself:
1./ Are you making photographs that are technically perfect, or photographs that are unmistakably yours?
2./ Are you photographing what interests you, or what you believe other photographers will approve of?
3./ And if nobody ever saw the photograph except you, would you still have pressed the shutter?
Stop chasing the perfect shot.
Start chasing the photograph that makes you stop, look, wonder and feel.
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin is a volunteer, a photographer, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.