Chapter Twenty. Good to Great
No more bulky equipment. No more time spent in the dark. Trade secrets are shared generously online. Getting good at photography is easier than ever before. Even my mom can make good photographs with her phone. Technology has helped us improve our creative output dramatically. The incoming tide raised each and every boat. As a result, there are a lot more good photographers in the world. Good isn’t that big a deal. Simply point and click. Yet few of the good photographers become truly great. Why?
Good is easy, but greatness is always hard. Mediocre to good doesn’t take much work, whereas good to great is a completely different game. When I started taking photographs, I was horrible. After a few years of failing to create but a few decent photographs, I stopped doing photography altogether.
Hidden Truths
I stepped away from capturing photographs to try to figure out what was wrong. I talked with a few friends and read a couple of books but still wasn’t sure. When it came to me, my focus was off. Not the focus on the lens, but the one within. When it comes to making good photographs, this is the most important lesson you can learn. And I soon discovered that great photography is not about the way an image looks.
The pursuit to make great photographs is a quest for hidden things. That’s why the best photographers are such a quirky bunch—like oddly equipped treasure hunters who go out into the world looking for the magnificent. Leaving no rock unturned, they search high and low for the perfect shot.
From the perspective of someone who doesn’t know what they are doing, their efforts must look insane. These wide-eyed image-makers stop in busy intersections to capture a shot, crawl through the mud to photograph a frog, and spend more money on their cameras than on shelter, transportation, and food. They pull off the freeway to photograph an old abandoned shack. They look for beauty hidden within a wrinkled face. They search for the truth that everyone else overlooked. With wide and sharp eyes, they believe in magic and look for it every day. The results of such efforts are photographs that go beyond the surface and connect with us in a deep way. They awaken our senses and make us aware that there is more to life than it seems.
At times, viewing such images can make photography seem deceptively simple. We see a picture and it instantly strikes a chord. We think, “What a lucky shot; that can’t be that difficult to do!” The obvious catch is that effortless and deep photographs take decades of commitment to the craft.
A PICTURE IS A SECRET ABOUT A SECRET. THE MORE IT TELLS YOU THE LESS YOU KNOW.
— DIANE ARBUS
The Curse of Good Enough
When I taught at a photography school, the students wanted to get good as quickly as they could. Yet getting good too quickly can be a curse, like inheriting money before you’ve learned the value of hard work. This is something we all tend to forget, or at least think it applies only to everybody else.
But too much good too fast can distract us from a higher goal. When life is good, we stop trying so hard. Jim Collins distilled the concept in this way: “Good is the enemy of great.” He explained, “Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”
Becoming good gives us a new vantage point from which to view the world, like finding a ladder in the middle of the sea. We climb up and take a seat. Suddenly, we see the world with new eyes and the world sees us propped up high. We think to ourselves, “How can this be a curse?” Good feels nice. But it isn’t a very stable spot. Plus, someone or something might try to climb up and take over our spot. Needing to defend our post, we become stuck in the beating sun. The uncreative person sits still, priding himself on his patience and resolve. The creative person gets tired of sitting around. “This perch is good, but it’s dull,” he says to himself. The creative person begins to think, “I wonder what’s on the bottom of the sea?” Looking down in the water, he sees the glint of gold and makes a leap.
When good is good enough, it stops the creative flow. Not good enough is what drives growth. Imagination is almost always the first step. Next comes the guts and resolve to get something done.
Exercise
We all climb ladders that we need to jump off. Without overthinking, answer the question, “What’s your ladder and what’s your leap?” Write your response and tack it up next to your desk.