Worry not, many felt and feel like that, and believe it or not, photography is an art, and as such, you are free to follow rules, break them, or invent your own.
In this page I will be sharing my thoughts about this topic. I hope this is useful for you, who are in a similar situation than me, and helps you find a way in this world of light and shadows (literally!), or at least find your inspiration to enjoy it as much as possible.
In either case, this is a dump of my own thoughts. I didn't really write this to share with you, but to keep a record of my thoughts.
![[Beautiful Landscape Photograph]](https://wallpapercave.com/wp/bvJq0ra.jpg)
First things first. What is wrong with photography today? Asking that, nothing is wrong with photography today. THE END.
No, really, what is wrong? Well, to summarize the situation, photography became a branch of Maths science. Basically everything now-a-days seems to be about pixels, about perfect sharpness, about micro-precise exposure, about camera equipment and about a bunch of things that resemble an exact science rather than a piece of art.
Many people forget that photography is an art, not a science. Yet, many photographers worry about how many megapixels your camera has, how fast is autofocus, and how little noise your 60000 ISO camera produces. Photos nowadays are gorgeous, beautiful, excellent... But then, photos look always bland, cold, nothing memorable, and something that everyone will forget 5 minutes later.
What is happening here? At the end of the day, who cares if your camera can do 20 steps of exposure compensation? Think about that! Do you believe that any of your followers on Instagram even cares about your megapixels? Do you think they idolize your for that? Sorry to dissapoint you, but nobody gives a damn sh1t. Just you, my friend.
Then, we have real artists such as Daido Moriyama, with his compact camera and a fraction of your megapixels, yet everyone know him and his photos. But as for you, nobody knows you beyond a few random and annonymous people in your instagram (they will forget about you after closing the app, though). Real life is harsh, isn't it?
Of course, I wish you best of lucks, and hope you are the next revelation in the world of photography.
![[Daido Moriyama Photograph]](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ls200vi13Dc/UDncH9bpJxI/AAAAAAAAYsc/KhsfZ_pli0Y/s800/Daido+Moriyama.jpg)
Now that we reached this point, lets annalize the situation. Photography nowadays seems to be about technical specifications. Whoever has the sharpest photo, the best exposed shot and the most detailed image is consider the best artist.
But STOP there! Artist? Don't make me laugh! All those things do not involve any sort of special skill. Anyone with a 2000 dollar camera who follows a couple of rules will obtain beautiful photos. If not, Photoshop will rescue you!
Think about it for a moment. We are talking about an art, not about a technical science. Art requires the acquisition of skill by practising. It requires talent. It requires observation skills, it requires something that comes from inside the artist, rather than from outside him/her.
Art happens when the person is in charge of 90% of the result, and the medium is 10% (ok, these are just sample number, but you get the idea). I will tell you what art is: Art is an expression of your inner self. It involves outputting your mind and thoughts into a medium, whatever it might be (paper, stone, clay, movement, sound...). It involves reflecting in the world inside you, such as your memories, your thoughts, your feelings towards the world. It is the result of your life so far.
And I will tell you what art is NOT: art is not about the medium. Art is not about discussing techniques, and art is not something that can be explained, measured or understood scientifically. Because art is basically a language!
And the same as language, art exists as a way to communicate something. Not a word. Not a sentence, but an idea or an emotion, so complex that cannot be explained with words. But nowadays photographers reduce this language mere cold and meaningless symbols.
It is like a poet who writes nothing of interest but whose calligraphy is gorgeous! Every single poem of this poet will always look the same, they will be boring, lacking meaning. If you check instagram, the situation is pretty much the same, excuse a few exceptions.
But why this is happening?
Tough questiong to answer, isn't it?
From my point of view, I believe that the fact tha photography is accessible to everyone, and that combined with photography becoming more and more a business and above all, a tool for narcissists, and all combined mutated the original "art" into a monster.
Today, more than ever before, taking photos is easy. There is no need to think about exposure, there is no need to think about running out of film or spending your money in each shot. It doesn't involve any skill. It doesn't require any thoughts from your brain.
People take a photo just for the sake of doing it. Would you paint something with oil-based paints just for the sake of it? Surely not! Because painting requires a skill, a process of thought, a clear understanding of how your current feelings affect the product. It absolutely requires all of that, otherwise you canot paint anything!
But not with photography, because lacking all of that still produces something that you could be kind-of proud in front of others, specially others who have no idea about this art.
That might sound nice, the Law of Least Effort.
But remember, nothing great has ever been achieved without effort!
Another factor that I mentioned above is the business factor. Camera companies want to make a living out of it. That is logical and expected, nothing bad about it, really. But this has harmed the industry quite a lot. They promote their newest camera with amazing features that you need.
But think about that: all these amazing new features are replacing parts of you as a photographer. You are being placed more and more in a second plane. You are being treated like a idiot who needs assistance. Like an accessory. It is as if they are insulting you, spitting in your own face how their cameras can work for you and you are happy to pay and accept that reality.
Why my camera has to do things for me that I am capable of? Am I being treated like a disabled person or what?
With all that being said, I personally stablish my own guidelines that I follow as much as possible as follows:
1) Acquire lots of experience using full manual mode [know the rules to learn how to break them]
2) The brush is not the goal [Your camera doesn't matter, as long as it can take photos]
3) Be a predator [Observe your surroundings all the time. Do not skip a single spot or second]
4) Don't be creative. [See everything from uncommon perspectives. Look up, look down and look upside-down]
5) Your photos are final [Do not edit photos. Show things how they were captured]
6) Leave the monkey aside [Do not chimp*. Disable the camera LCD. Go back to rule #5]
7) Pixels account for 10% of the photo [3 to 5 megapixels are enought, unless you want to print]
8) Improvise always [do not follow standards, rules or conventions]
9) Less is always more [if you take more than one or two shots per subject, you are doing something wrong]
10) Ignore what you see [When out taking photos, empty your mind from pre-ideas or images from other photographers]
11) It is about you, not about others! [How do you feel? Show that in your photos!!!]
Disclaimer: use these under your own discretion. I am not responsible by accidents due to these. They are subject to change, increase or decrease in number without previous notice. You be warned.
And this is the end (for now), but before you GTFO, tell me for how long have you been looking at the second photo (the portrait) in this page, and for how long the first one (the landscape)? Draw conclusions by yourself...
* Chimp: the act of carefully looking at your camera's LCD after each photo to see if everything is as expected. Typical behaviour that denotes an amateur photographer, lacking in confidence and skill.