Good afternoon!
I'm writing this post to come up with some personal guidelines to keep myself on task when it comes to photography, but hopefully some of my thinking here can be helpful to the rest of you, as well.
The Basics
Shoot. Edit. Share.
As long as I stay on top of these three things, I can be sure that I am not losing ground. If I work on some other elements of my photography, these three things will be the foundation to help me move forward.
Shooting
Shooting is at the top of this list. If I shoot on a regular basis, I accomplish a number of things: I get to know my camera better; I develop my vision; I get photo cliches out of my system; most importantly, I produce.
I wanted to be a writer once. The thing that tripped me up was production. That was how I knew that the passion wasn't there. If I wanted to write, I needed to produce. Without it, I was just a dreamer. It's the same with photography.
Editing
The quote "In writing, you must kill all your darlings," is attributed to Faulkner. He could have been a photographer, because the same applies here. It helps if you've taken a lot of photographs.
This is something I still struggle with today. There is a story behind every photo we take, so they're all special. It's easy to eliminate poorly exposed photos, blurry photos, and photos that miss the subject. It's hard to eliminate the others--especially if they took real effort to achieve.
If we want our photography to be liked, if we want to share, we need to be selective about what we show. When I began shooting, I would upload nearly everything I shot. This overloaded everyone's photostream and I shudder to think of what they thought of the photos. I had to cut down and be selective.
One way I accomplish this is by limiting the number of photos I post in a day. I also limit the number of photos I will process from a day's shooting. I dump my photos in Lightroom and select a handful of photos that jump out at me as thumbnails. Then I go through them one at a time looking for flaws in composition, focus, etc. I will flag those that look promising and process my favorites.
Even then, I dump them into a queue, post the ones I like most, and remove the ones I don't touch for a while. Lately, I've limited my selection process to one evening a week. This gives me some additional emotional distance from the photo, though I may revise that step at some point.
Sharing
Finally, if you want to be a photographer--to grow as a photographer--you have to share your photos. This can be online or in print. It can be public, for all the world to see, or to an individual or group that you trust. Whatever the case, you have to get them out there.
The potential for an audience helps you develop a more critical eye. The critiques that may ensue can affirm you, or challenge you. Affirmation and challenge are the lifeblood of your growth as a photographer. We need to know that we are improving. We need to know what else we can do to improve.
What would you consider to be most important to your progress as a photographer?
