There's Something More Important Than Your Pictures 'Turning Out'
Letters to a Kid Photographer
Matthew,
You spent all summer saving up and waiting for your first camera to come in the mail and it’s a dud.
It was heartbreaking to see the disappointment in your eyes when your first roll of film came back blank.
Here's something that you won't realize for about 25 more years:
Even though that camera ruined your roll of film and you will never get to see the first pictures you took, there was something more important that happened to you.
That day, you saw the world in a completely different way. In fact, I don’t think you had ever actually seen the world before. Sure, you have eyes and you look at things but your experience of seeing the world through the camera was entirely different.
The way that you stopped and looked at everything - this is what a photographer does. They look, they notice, they see, and then they made a picture.
It's not like drawing or painting where we can make any picture that we can imagine - we have to deal with whatever the moment gives us. We're like explorers and artists rolled into one.
As I watched you take the train trip, it all came back to me. Your roll of film had 12 exposures so you could only take 12 pictures and you spent that whole day thinking carefully about what each of those pictures would be.
This is going to blow your mind. I've got a camera that lets me take infinite pictures. As long as the camera still works - and believe me I've worn out many cameras - I can continue taking thousands of pictures. But every time I go out to take pictures I do what you did with your first roll of film.
I tune in to all of the moments going on around me. I'm asking is this a picture?
The only difference is that at the end of the day, I've taken 1200 pictures!
Don't be discouraged.
That's easy for me to say because I know how things turn out. But you were doing exactly what a photographer should do. You're full of excitement and curiosity and nothing is going to stop you from being a photographer.
Start dreaming again. Lay awake as long as you want at night thinking about all the things you'll do when you eventually get a camera.
From, Older You
PS - Put a camera on your Christmas list.
Thanks for following along as I send letters to my younger self.
Sometimes we drag old experiences through life and they hold us back. Even though we can’t go back in time, we can learn a lesson from them that propels us forward.
Let me know when you find something helpful in these letters - I love to hear from readers.
My first roll didn’t turn out either, but I think in my case it was user error.
I loved this: "It's not like drawing or painting where we can make any picture that we can imagine - we have to deal with whatever the moment gives us. We're like explorers and artists rolled into one."
I've never thought of it that way!