10. The beginner’s mindset
Buongiorno amici, I hope you had a nice week!
Sorry I did not show up last Sunday: my boyfriend came to visit me from Sweden, and I turned off all social media. Family first :)
But today I am back here!
Talking about social media: I follow a couple of photography forums on different platforms, and started seeing more and more frequently posts of people that experience the so-called “photography burnout”.
They say that, all of a sudden, their creativity is gone, and they feel so much stress and pressure when they go out with their camera, that they need to take a break from their (once) favorite hobby.
Since this phenomenon is apparently quite common, I started digging into it, trying to understand which could be the possible causes to be able to prevent it (because I do NOT want to experience the same thing! Wouldn’t it be horrible to start hating your camera??? For me, it is unthinkable, unimaginable…).
Do you know what I noticed?
Leaving professional photographers on the side, because they might face burnout because clients, finances, and several other legitimate reasons, can you guess who are the ones experiencing photography burnout?
Not beginners discouraged by their lack of skills, but experienced hobbyist photographers that either spend all their free time frantically studying Youtube videos, Instagram posts and books to uncover the secret for the best shot, or, again, experienced hobbyist photographers with their own mission to post every day a masterpiece photo on their Instagram feed, seeking for external validation. Their dedication and discipline are admirable …but… don’t you feel stressed just reading this paragraph? Uuufff… no wonder why they get a photography burnout! So much pressure, so many expectations, so little space for…mindspace.
I came up with a “preventive therapy” for the photography burnout, and I am sure you have now guessed it: yes, exactly!
TO KEEP A BEGINNER’S MINDSET!!!
When I was teaching Afro-Latin dances, I came across a fun truth: beginner dancers experiment everything with open mind and a “wow” reaction at each step, intermediate dancers “know it all” and want to dance only advanced combinations, and advanced dancers enjoy dancing the basics with the beginners. Why does it happen? Because beginners have fun, and nothing else matters!
Let’s translate this to photography language.
Do you remember when we were just in the beginning of our photography journey? We were not burdened by expectations and approached the world in a curious and naïve way, without thinking, with no fear of failure. Creativity was there, growing every single day.
In the end, do we need to be skilled to be creative? No. Creativity is a state of mind, it does not come from technique, but from curiosity. Technique definitely helps us to obtain the image that our creativity suggests, but nothing is more important than curiosity and an open mind. And who is more curious than a beginner???
This is how can we keep a beginner’s mindset and avoid stagnation and creative ruts:
1. Avoid “creative routine”: this is for me the number one tip.
The more we know and develop our own photography style, the more we risk getting stuck in one technique, one color palette that we start feeling comfortable with and looks good on our Instagram feed, or even in one specific photography niche! Our vision of the world starts shrinking: only street photography… only multiple exposures… only at night… only these colors… STOP. How would a beginner think?
“I like the colors of my breakfast, I take a photo”, “oooh look how many different film simulations/color options has my camera: I wanna try aaaaall the film simulations now”, “look, there’s a flower! I take a photo: wooow the bokeh is amazing!”.
Right? And we are now in the fortunate position of NOT being technically beginners, so these photos would probably even look very nice from all points of view. I admit that I often just try all film simulations of my Fuji, shooting the same subject (a book for example), just to feel and remember all different emotions that colors can give… Open mind, no fear of shooting something boring.
Fujifilm XT-5 + XF 23 mm f/1.4 LM WR _ Me testing Fujifilm colors :)
2. Go back to basics: paying more attention to fundamentals like light, composition, and colors, helps to reduce “performance anxiety”. The famous saying “less is more” is key. Think simple, as a beginner, and re-explore the basics from time to time, with the knowledge you have now. The pressure of having to perform and produce sophisticated photos at all costs will suddenly disappear and creativity will have space to be heard again.
In my case for example, I love expressing through in-camera multiple exposure. However, when I start “not feeling” the layers I want to build and my mind gets a bit stuck, I go back to single shots, as simple as I can, and all of a sudden I start seeing again what I want to create. Removing the pressure of a difficult technique from my mind, creativity comes immediately back.
3. Say WOW more often: I still remember that “WOW” feeling the first time I played with the aperture ring of my camera at night and discovered the colorful bokeh produced by lights (or, by the lens actually). I admit it, “WOW” is one of the most present words in my vocabulary. I am lucky, I get enchanted, surprised and wowed very easily, it is my personality. For me, a sunset is not “just a sunset” is WOOOW, a piece of glass is not just a piece of glass is “cooool reflection, woooow!”, and so on. I realized that this part of my personality may sound a bit funny or silly, a bit childish maybe, but it saves me from creative burnout, this is why I decided to include it in my list. Look around with the eyes of a beginner, or, even better, of a child beginner.
Fujifilm X-T4 + XF 56 mm f/1.2 WR _ When I discover street lights at night: a WOW moment in 2023.
4. Maintain humility and perspective: this point is connected to my last blog post about self-criticism (see BLOG 9 !). It’s healthy to stop and think of what to improve, learn from mistakes, and reinvent our photography when needed. Do not fear changes, transformations, revolutions in your style!
5. Focus on your creative journey, rather than on seeking external validation: it is quite difficult to stick to this point in a systematic and constant way in these times when social media daily “determine” who is a good photographer and who is not, based on the amounts of followers. I know that. Sometimes I also feel a bit frustrated when I see banal photos having thousands of likes and what I consider my favourite photos being ignored. I wouldn’t be honest if I told you that this never affect me, not a tiny bit. Photography is our way to communicate; it is normal to want someone listening and understanding. However, I do a reality check from time to time, and I ask myself why I love photography: the reply is never “to be seen on social media”. So, likes or not, let’s go on!
Always follow your gut, create what you like, how you like it and when you feel like it, and you will never fall in a photography burnout!
I leave you today with an in-camera multiple exposure made yesterday night here in Basel, during a freezing walk between lights and Christmas trees.
In-camera multiple exposure_ Fujifilm X-T5 + XF 23 mm f/1.4 LM WR
Have a creative week ahead and chat photography soon again!
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