Welcome. This is the right forum for this post. Thank you for sharing. I am a software engineer not a professional photographer so I can't give you specific career advice. All I can tell is that feeling extremely stuck is quite normal and is an important part of personal and professional growth. Humans are weird species and this seems to be the way we operate.
When I get stuck I use the time to do simple but useful tasks, like working on my website, reading, experimenting with new techniques or organizing my archive. Or as Daniela said just go out and shoot. The key is not to push yourself, just have fun.
I like your protest images. They are strong and at the same time subtle. There is not much action and a lot of tension. Well done. The interior shot is also good in terms of composition and colors.
Landscapes are harder than most people think. A lot of beautiful nature scenes are very stubborn to become good images. A straight shot will rarely work.
Sorry if I was of little help. I would probably help if your share your circumstances. Are you studying photography and plan to make it your career? Do you gravitate towards journalism or fine arts?
To my eye a slightly cropped version of the landscape looks better.
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In my opinion the trees at the borders of the frame draw too much attention.
There is a bit of magenta cast in deep shadows. Are you giving Ektar enough exposure?
Ektar has smaller latitude and a bit higher contrast and saturation compared to Portra. It requires careful exposure and could be tricky to work with. Many photographers recommend using a warm-up filter with it. There is a whole thread on how to shoot it on this forum. Ektar is a very nice film stock. I shoot it a lot. It is less expensive than most color negative film so bracketing important shots is always a good idea.I've always found Ektar to be unreasonably hard to scan with contrasty scenes.
Right now I just feel extremely stuck. Please help!
"Because people die"
It's a quote that I don't know who to attribute but I recall perhaps written in Mike Jonhston's TOP. While growing up, I saw photography as how older generations did, and eg. only have a bunch of pictures of grandpa. "People didn't use to take pictures then". My initiation to photograhpy was to document, and it largely stays so.
Discussing life with a friend, she mentioned that we have a "primal wound" or something similar if the term escapes me; While building ourselves there is something that we carry in deeply as we develop. For me it has been knowing that life is fleeting, people and things that are away do change and disappear.
It is a very good sign that you, as a 19 year old photographer, are in search of "wisdom". That is a real sign that you are open to listening and learning.
And some of the best work ever will come as a reaction to "stuckness".
I'm reluctant to give what would essentially be vocational advice - I spent a few years making money directly and indirectly through photography, while being around lots of people who did work as photographers, but as a result came to the realization that the way to keep the joy and wonderment in photography for me was to do something else to make a living. But I certainly have known of many who were happy with photography or photographic related work.
Don't discount what you can learn from emulating others - just be sure to use the experience to learn about yourself.
And try to come up with some ideas for photographic projects that will both challenge you and interest you for a period of time. Starting with a vision and then, through time and effort and growth, bringing something into fruition as a result of it, can be the most satisfying and surprising of experiences.
I am writing today in need of some advice about my next steps
The photo if the arrested masked protester is great!
I've aged a few years since I joined the forum not much older than you are, but I don't think I've gained much in wisdom I could offer. Anyhow I wonder why you're not following up photographically on the people from the protest camp. Surely something is happening in their lives that's related. Maybe they're still politically active, maybe they've stopped, maybe they're in legal trouble. All worth investigating photographically, and a great opportunity to built some work with a continuity if you have a rapport with them.
In no particular order:
This is the advice I wish I had received had someone given me a camera at 19.
- Examine your failed photographs as much, as carefully and intensely as you examine the ones you like; ask yourself : why didn't this work? what did I do wrong? what should have I tried?
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), follow every rule in the book
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), brake every rule in the book
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month) only shoot using the same lens, after a while, change lens and do the same
- Find a spot close to your home, on your way to school or to work, etc., select something that interests you there, shoot that same thing over and over again, but each time differently — sometimes close with a wide angle, sometime far with a telephoto, at different times of the days, under different weather conditions, different times of the year, etc. Examine everything, ask yourself what worked and what did, try to figure out why.
- Go out and shoot on grey, dull days
- Photograph ordinary, everyday stuff — dirty dishes in the sink, your sofa, stuff lying on the table, a lamp, a plant, stairs, etc. Examine the photos. if they failed, ask yourself if it's because you photographed ordinary stuff or because you photographed it ordinarily
- Ask friends to model for you; do formal portraits, environmental portraits, fashion-style portraits, have two of them pretend they're getting married
- Think of subject matter you'd like to document photographically; write it down, do research, don't photograph
- Don't post the photos you like expecting praise; post your failed photo that you wish you had done better: ask for advice, comments, ideas
- Go out without a camera, look at the light; observe how it changes things, your perceptions of things, your feelings about them, ask yourself what its quality is
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at dawn
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at dusk
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at high noon or close
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at night
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot from the hip
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), follow as strickly as you can the principles of the zone system
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), don't carry a meter, try to read the light and wing it
- Find a place nearby, a small store, a barbershop, a pizza place, a dance club. Go often, talk with the people who work there, get to know them, get them to trust you. After a while, ask them if you can come one day and spend it photographing them, the customers, etc.
- Find a small theater company, a small dance company, a garage band; go talk to them; ask them if you can shoot their rehearsals
- Carry two cameras, one with color film, one with black and white; shoot the same stuff with each; compare
- Find something you want to photograph. Look at it for at least 15 minutes before shooting.
- Go out for a long walk with your camera. Tell yourself "I'm only going to shoot one photo". Only shoot one photo.
- Overexpose on purpose
- Underexpose on purpose
- Don't just look at landscape photography books, read about landscape.
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at f/4 or f/5.6; after a while, select another aperture and repeat; compare.
- Every time you think you are close enough, get closer, then shoot
- For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), pretend you're a photographer you admire. Try to imitate his style.
- Tell yourself no film is ever wasted.
- And finally, my favorite: Do not ask what you can do for photography, ask what photography can do for you.
Doing all this doesn't prevent you from going out in the courtyside and doing landscape, or shooting a protest if you run into one. But do all this stuff — and/or other similar stuff you'll think about yourself —, and I can assure you that in a few years you'll know photography well and will know exactly what you want to photograph, why you want to photograph it, and how you'll want to photograph it.
And I can assure you that you'll never get stuck. Because you'll have learned that first and foremost photography is about looking at the world and, ideally, having fun doing it.
Except in these numerous cases when the world you're looking at ain't fun. But that's another matter.
Thank you so much!The photo if the arrested masked protester is great!
I've aged a few years since I joined the forum not much older than you are, but I don't think I've gained much in wisdom I could offer. Anyhow I wonder why you're not following up photographically on the people from the protest camp. Surely something is happening in their lives that's related. Maybe they're still politically active, maybe they've stopped, maybe they're in legal trouble. All worth investigating photographically, and a great opportunity to built some work with a continuity if you have a rapport with them.
Thank you so much, this was reassuring to hear.
The state school I'm starting at this fall has a very lackluster art department and an even worse photography department. I have registered for a photography class but may work with the instructor to try and get dedicated darkroom time. Regardless, I think I'm going to try and double major in something "practical" (business, finance, etc.) alongside art history, another interest of mine. I've found the best way to kill a passion is to try and turn it into a career, so with that sentiment I'll try and utilize my resources at university to make connections and relationships in the art scene, but mostly pursue photography non-professionally at this time. That being said, I could do journalism, keep finding scenes like the protest, and hope I can build an attractive enough portfolio, but this seems stressful and difficult
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