About learning photography

12/07/2025

Photography is still very new to me. I only started being interested in it two years ago, and it stuck with me for real since then.

I'm far from considering myself a good photographer, but I look forward to become one someday (you can check my work here). During the process of learning photography, I noticed most photographers tend to ask themselves the same questions or to be frustrated by the same things over and over, so here's my attempt at tackling these: here are some of the things about photography that took me quite some time to understand, and really helped me once I did.

Even famous photographers show only 1% of their work

This first one was very freeing for me to understand: every photo posted online was selected by their author amongst 99 other bad or "just ok" ones you'll never see. Nobody, not even famous photographers, make bangers only; and so it's perfectly normal you are in the same case.

Photography is about experimenting, failing, and only from time to time, taking a photo you'll be proud of.

Editing is very important

Everybody makes photos nowadays: everybody has a great phone that features a great camera, and due to social media, more and more people are interested about photography in general. In the other way, not everybody deeply cares about editing, and that's what can differentiate someone taking good photos from a great photographer: the story you want to tell, the way you will select your photos to tell that story, edit them, sequence them, and present them can all make a huge difference about how your work will be perceived.

Gear doesn't really matter... but still matters a bit

You've probably heard it hundreds of times: gear is not what matters to make good photos. Intention, dedication, boldness, or the ability to compose images are examples of things that'll make a much bigger difference.

That said, gear is still important in the way that you want to have a camera you feel good using, that feels handy to you, and that makes you want to go out taking pictures.

Yes, labs workers see all of your photos, but they don't care about them

This one is for my film photographers who wonder "Should I take this photo? What will the guy from the lab think about it?" before pressing the shutter button (I feel you).

Yes developing and scanning is mostly automatized nowadays, but labs workers still have to check each scanned frame one by one to make sure nothing went wrong. Good news is, they do not give a damn about your photos: they see hundreds of them every day, and they also suffer from the same impostor syndrome as you, so don't let it stop you taking the photos you want to take.

Your photos must please you before anyone else

We sometimes might try to imitate popular photos or to conform in styles that do not suit us to seek the approval of the others: while it's true the perception of your work by the others can't be completely ignored, it's much more important for self-esteem and longevity to be the first fan of our own work.

Making what you like is one of the most important things for your evolution as an artist.

Quality comes from "perceived" rarity

The most interesting photos are about what people are not used to see, which means, experimenting and getting out of your comfort zone while shooting will almost always be very rewarding.

It also means the same photo can be welcomed very differently from people with different lives, backgrounds, cultures, stories... And that a photo you find very boring can be a banger to someone else.

About street photography: the photo you want to make is the photo you are afraid to make

This one hit me hard when I heard it (I don't remember where, probably from Rubben Radding in a Walkie Talkie episode?), and is a good follow up for the previous one.

Street photography is mostly about taking pictures of people without their consent, which can be really intimidating. But as stated in the previous advice, there are less chances you'll find your own photos interesting if you do not take the risk of getting close and of being noticed. If you want to make street photos you'll be proud of, you'll need to fight your fears and take the photos you are afraid to make.

That said, don't think I'm done with this; I'm not sure any street photographer ever becomes fearless; but keeping this in mind is really helping me fighting my fears of shooting head-on. Baby steps!

About street photography: most people do not care having their photo taken

Again in the same vein: while starting to shoot people head-on, I noticed most people do not care at all having their photo taken. Most of them just ignore it or are too "lazy" to confront you about it.

The different techniques I use to make sure not to be yelled at:

• act as if you were shooting something or someone behind them
• smile: just being cool and smiling when people notice you prevents 90% of conflicts (I made that number up but you get the idea)
• if you somehow still get confronted: keep cool, explain what you do, tell people you won't use or post their photos, and you'll be good to go

You want to keep all of your photos and you want your negatives back from the lab

This is something I learned the hard way when I noticed the lab destroyed a lot of my negatives because it did not bother getting them back: sometimes your tastes change, sometimes something you found uninteresting one day would now fit well in a series you started or slowly became cool over the years. For these reasons, you always want to keep your photos (yes even the bad ones, do NOT delete them), and you always want to get back your negatives from the lab after development, you'll thank me later.

Feeling unhappy about your photography work means you are improving

I wanted to end on a positive note with something I probably also learned from Rubben Radding.

A lot of artists tend to be unhappy about their work, to think they are bad at their art, and that their work is lacking something. If you feel the same, it's actually a good sign that you are evolving: art is not something that ends or that you can finish, artists change tastes and styles several times along their lives, and thus feeling something in your work is not perfect is just a sign that you are improving and mastering your art a bit more.

I hope these observations will be helpful to anybody reading this and learning photography, don't hesitate to reach by email to discuss this subject further, I'll answer you with pleasure.

Be kind to yourself and remain curious.