I saw a blog post the other day from Scott Bourne on photofocus and he said, “Your photos are better than you think!”

And, it got me to thinkin’.

He said that your pictures are better than you think they are “because there’s only one you”.

I agree with that. But, I would like to expand on the idea a little more and from a slightly different angle using today’s photo/art quote from Harry Callahan whose (from Wikipedia Callahan) “technical photographic method was to go out almost every morning, walk through the city he lived in and take numerous pictures. He then spent almost every afternoon making proof prints of that day’s best negatives. Yet, for all his photographic activity, Callahan, at his own estimation, produced no more than half a dozen final images a year.”

harry callahan quote
“I guess I’ve shot 40,000 negatives and of these I have about 800 pictures I like”. – Harry Callahan

We all tend to compare our everyday work, our B-Roll’ if you will, to everyone else’s finished movies. The images you often see posted on the web on Google Plus, 500 pix, people’s blogs, or in magazines and elsewhere are usually ‘Hand Selected Prime Grade A Number One’ images from a large number captured and then massaged before being shared with the world.

So before you become frustrated with how much your images ‘suck’ – sit back, relax and and look at your best work, and only your best work, from about six months ago (so your a bit more impartial) before you start comparing your work with others.

I think you’ll be surprised.

Yours in Creative Photography,      Bob

PS – Have you had frustrations with your work? Share your story here how you got over it…