Stop taking pictures of your kids...seriously

OK, don't actually stop taking pictures of your kids, they're only young once, just stop using them as models for class.  Get out of your comfort zone!  I know it sounds terrifying, right?  It is.  I'm not even going to try to convince you that it isn't.  I mean that's why it's called the comfort zone... because that is where we feel most comfortable.  It's different for each of us.  I prefer to shoot portraits, lit with strobes either in studio or on location.  Natural light?  Forget it.  Out of my comfort zone.  Still life...out of my comfort zone.  See the pattern?  We all do it to some degree and we need to stop if we are going to grow as photographers.

When I first started classes I had no idea what I wanted to shoot when I grow up.  And there are days where I still don't know for sure what I want to shoot.  I have, however, been exposed to so many things that I never considered 3 years ago.  One of my first classes was "Drawing - ART 1010" or something like that.  I hated it.  With a passion, I mean seriously, I use a camera for a reason.  But now, 3 years later I understand that it wasn't about becoming the next DaVinci, it was about learning something new.  In the case of that class, it was light and shadow and as a side benefit, now that I use a Wacom Intuos Tablet when editing, some of those drawing techniques really come in handy now.  The point is, I was forced out of my comfort zone and I am a better student and photographer because of it.

I have been in classes with plenty of other people that pitch a fit in the classroom... "well, I'm a nature photographer so I don't do well with people" and "I'm a natural light photographer so I don't really need to learn how to use these lights" and so on.  Guess what, those people did not do very well in those classes or assignments and it showed in their final projects.  The people that were not afraid to go out and learn something new, even do something that made them uncomfortable, without making excuses really did the best in my opinion.

Speaking of going out of comfort zones, when I took Time Based Media, I was not looking forward to it. Not one bit.  Create a 90 second video?  Storyboard it?  Work with audio?  You gotta be kidding me?  I tried my best to go into it with an open mind and I was very pleased with the results.  And it opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunities for me.  (And yes that means I have a short film brewing in the back of my brain somewhere).

Bottom line, be open minded and get out of your comfort zone!



Athlete Profile: Eric Dasher from Mike Krogemann on Vimeo.