Kanata Seniors' Centre Camera Club

Tips To Help Build Confidence In Photography

In the short run you may have really blown a photo shoot, or missed the animal of your dreams because you were not being conscious about your settings, or you were simply absent minded.  The best of the best all fail, but what keeps them on top of their game is the arduous task of owning up to being human and going out to find a solution to your goof.
By the book you may know everything there is to know about exposure triangle, rule of thirds, colour theory etc., but when you are actually shooting do they do more to help or hinder?
Confidence isn’t always consistent and has it’s slumps.  So when you have an off day or night, remember another day or night is just 12 hours away.
Learn from your Mistakes.  Confidence has a conspiracy with failure.  So take 2 steps forward and 1 step back.  Stay committed.
Be vulnerable, enter a photo contest and don’t expect to win.  Letting your photo hang on a wall, while others look at it, even for a few minutes, is a scary prospect for some. People will love it, like it, dislike it or downright hate it, but that doesn’t mean you are wrong.  It means you have succeeded in making the photography world just a little more interesting..  You also never know who you will inspire.
Learn from others but don’t compare yourself to them. So learn from their perspectives, their tutorials and their stories, but don’t get caught up with who is better.

• In PORTRAITURE, confidence helps you connect with and calm your subject to bring out their inner spirit.  There is little worse than a nervous model and a nervous photographer.  Even if your not 100% sure of what you are doing, show confidence, take your time and slowly adjust your settings to get things closer to your ideas,  Try and keep from getting frustrated and making large adjustments wildly to your gear.
• For WILDLIFE photography, confidence lets you trust your gut and get in the right place at the right time.  Luck is important, but perseverance will ultimately lead to success.
• In TRAVEL photography, confidence helps you see beyond the postcard shot. Confidence allows you to see your journey, not the one that is in the travel books.  It helps you see the subtleties and personalize your travel story, rather than trying to take the photo that everyone else wants you to take.
• In FINE ART photography, confidence will allow your creative side to flow.  It will allow you to access what is sometimes referred to as “being in the zone”  This zone or flow is your brilliance at its best and confidence supports your ambitions as an artist.
• In BAD WEATHER, confidence helps you see the silver lining.  For all types of photography we rely on light.  A great source of light is outdoors and when that golden hour turns to wind and rain you have a choice – pack up and go, or think outside the box.  Confidence helps you control your surroundings, even when they are out of control, so you can begin to work within them and use them to your advantage.
• In TOUGH TIMES, photography gives you the grit to continue. Really, this is what a lot of photography comes down to – do you have the gumption to get up early for sunrise or not?  Can you be satisfied with the gear you have and not think about the next lens you want to get?  Can you be the best photographer you can be?  Confidence is hard to gain and can take years to attain.  It is a process and is easier for some than others.  But if you work at it, it will build.  Just as you work on other aspects of your photography, your emotions need work to.

If you start to learn from your mistakes and begin to hang photos on the wall – then guess what?  Your confidence will begin to grow, you will  have more control over photography.  As your confidence grows,it builds and build on itself.
Marg Jackman

At our September meeting someone mentioned that free photography training was available at Lynda.com when accessed through the Ottawa Public Library.

This short video demonstrates how easy it is.

This blog post from last February list some of the photography courses that are available.

At the September meeting, Anne Jones mentioned that there will be an opportunity to shoot fireworks in Kanata as part of the Lumiere Charity Gala to be held on Thursday, September 22nd. The event will be held at Kanata’s Brookstreet Hotel located here.

She suggested shooting from this possible location.

The web site doesn’t specify when the fireworks will start but sunset on the 22nd is at 6:59 pm and twilight is at 7:29/8:03/8:39 (civil/nautical/astronomical).

Please note that the Club’s Carp Fair shootout is also scheduled the same evening.