It’s interesting to me how my standards have changed and evolved over time. Back when I first started doing more serious photography, I would have never believed I could one day get a shot like this. Partly because I had no idea how to get a shot like this, but also because I simply didn’t have the gear either. My humble little Nikon D200 and 50mm lens, the combination that kicked off this entire Weekly Fifty project, simply could not produce this image nor anything even close to it. So if someone had told me over a decade ago that I would be capable, both on a technical level as well as an experience level, of getting a picture of an insect feeding on a flower like this I simply would have disregarded the entire premise altogether. It would be too far beyond my reach.
Fast forward to present day and here we are, a photo that would have blown my mind back in 2012 and yet, all I can seem to notice are slight imperfections and opportunities for improvement. I’m not trying to be self-deprecating, it’s just that I’m kind of stunned sometimes at how much my standards have shifted the more I learn and grow as a photographer. But one thing I try to do when reflecting on my past photos is criticize them, since they were the best I could do at the time. Instead I like to see current images as evidence of growth and progression, and if they aren’t pixel-perfect then it means I just have more learning and growing to do :)
What I mean by all this is that today’s photo is, by most accounts, pretty great. (I hope it doesn’t come across as arrogant to say that.) By that I mean it hits all the notes you would expect in a good photograph. There’s a clear subject centered in the frame, and the purple petals immediately draw your eye from the surrounding greenery. It’s sharp, in focus, and there’s something interesting going on with the insect (a small bee, perhaps? I dunno.) taking a few sips of nectar from the flower. There’s even some secondary elements to draw your attention like the subtle waves of color variation in the background, the purple protrusions on the stem, and the single blade of green extending off to the right. Clearly there’s a lot to like, and a lot that went right in the making of this image.
However, and you knew there would be a caveat coming, when see this image it’s hard for me not to notice the imperfections. The bee (or whatever it is) is facing just slightly away from the camera. The depth of field is just a bit too shallow. I wish I had gotten a few inches closer. And so on. What I need to do, and what this image helps remind me, is focus on things like how much I have learned and grown as a photographer and also appreciate this shot for what it is and what it represents. I need to not get weighed down by what this photo could have been, but instead appreciate it for what it is. Sure there’s a few things I could improve next time, but there’s a lot that went right this time, and that’s worth far more to me.
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