Photography is a journey. An ever evolving journey with several stages that at one point or another each photographer will go through. Some times we hit these stages quickly and other times we may be in one stage for a long time. Other times we may be in two stages at once or revisit a stage.
That all sounds crazy why would we revisit a stage or be in two at one time? The stages are not super rigid except perhaps the very first stage which we only get to be in for a finite amount of time.
Throwback screenshot of one of my first self portraits as a brand new photographer.
1st Stage of photography: Being a Beginner
Being a beginner is a stage of the photography journey that every photographer has to go through and arguably the most important stage. In fact I am pretty famous for saying in my memoir Glass Eyes: A Photographers Journey “Before you can be a professional, you must first be a beginner.” We all have to start somewhere, and beginners journey is arguably the best.
It is a time of exploration, trial and error, of learning and growth. It is where you get to experience all the genre’s to find what you enjoy photographing, learn your style, learn your camera, how to read light, how to run a business, or just make art. It is the time you get to exist without putting a number on what you need to earn to pay bills or run a functioning business.
Sure, it is a stage most seasoned photographers complain about because being new you charge less, or you become competition. I personally love new photographers experiencing their joy and excitement, their drive and passion. More often than not when they ask me for advice I tend to tell them not to rush through that beginners phase, to soak up knowledge and the ability to shoot for passions sake because once you make it a career, a business, it becomes work and sometimes even if you love it, it can be draining.
2nd Stage of photography: Gear Obession
The second stage is a fun and expensive one to be in. It is also one you can revisit because who doesn’t love that new camera gear smell?
So gear obsession is pretty much what it sounds like. Researching new gear, buying new gear be it camera bodies, lenses, flashes, memory cards, tripods, camera bags. so on and so forth. It becomes about having the latest and greatest thinking that will increase your skill.
Here is the thing, photography is a technological driven art form and the better our tools the easier it is to achieve good results. A $10,000 dollar camera can make the exact same image as a $500 dollar camera with a photographer who understands the tools they are using the price point, the age, the type doesn’t matter because they can achieve results with whatever is placed in their hand.
That is the lesson to learn though, to be confident and competent with gear you already have. See gear obsession starts out because new gear will make your life easier, but then you start comparing to other photographers and need or want more and more. Being able to master the gear you have and break the gear obsession is a peak skill however there are times where you need to upgrade or purchase a new lense.
For me it is lenses and memory cards that eat up my money. Camera bodies are 10+ years old and working beautifully but sometimes I need a very specific lens to photograph a certain event. And yet I will go as long as possible before purchasing new, I will get creative with the gear I already have to make sure splurging on that new piece will be worth it in the end. Nothing is worse than buying new gear to sit on a shelve and collect dust.
Being a beginner is a reality. This is one of my first bull fighting images from one of the first rodeos I photographed.
3rd Stage: Technologically Perfect
This stage is weird stage, one I personally did not spend a lot of time in. This stage is about getting every setting, every aspect done to perfection within the camera. It is utilizing all the equipment to create the perfect image and usually bragging about every setting necessary to achieve x result.
Nailing it in camera is an amazing feeling and technically perfect images can be absolutely stunning. But they can also miss the mark, they can miss the emotion and story telling aspect. They work far better on landscape photography, still life, studio than on anything the requires you to work quickly.
To be technically perfect you have to have plenty of time to make each shot. Your goal is to have little to no post editing to do on each shot made. Some photographers absolutely thrive on this stage and love it, while others like me are more than ok with making the shot and cleaning things up in post as necessary.
4th Stage of Photography: Artistic
The artistic stage is such a fun one, one we all start out photography most of the time dreaming about. Who doesn’t see those super artistic images that look like a painting and not want to be one of those creators? I know I did, sometimes still do want to make those super processed artsy images.
However the artistic stage is more than just those super processed and cool images. It is finding art in tiniest details of life, it is seeing and creating for the joy of the art and there are no limits to this. Technical perfection and imperfection alike contribute to this stage.
For me as artistic photography is what I like to create for myself, to relax, and usually for competitions. I love photographing flowers, spending time in my friends Dahlia field is a highlight of my summer, I get to hang in a relaxing environment, play with my camera and create for me. There is no pressure and no expectation and ability to try new things, use studio lighting, water, whatever necessary to create.
I visit the artistic stage frequently but as a photographer I do not get to live there as much as I would like, but it is a stage I return to when I need to recharge my own batteries.
A Dahlia: this was taken in 2024 around 1 pm on a very sunny afternoon. Using pocket flashes to create a natural black background and dynamic shadows within the Dahlia to make a different artistic flower image.
Final Stage of Photography: Being a Mentor
The final stage is perhaps the most interesting stage, because as beginners we constantly seek out the knowledge of those who came before us and those of us who are lucky will get advice and help from the old pros. It is the one stage we do not always see ourselves reaching and the one we are stunned to find ourselves in where we are consider an authority on our passion.
Mentoring is unique in that we pass our experiences on and it can come in many forms. Some photographers host and put on workshops, others do one on one mentoring, and others write books and blogs to pass their knowledge on.
I was a young photographer, I started right out of high school, I was privileged and lucky to have some incredible mentors who kicked my butt for gear obsession, offered advice and encouragement. Who worked with me one on one and made time in their busy careers to have a simple phone call to chat when I was stuck. Who cheered for me and inspired me to support others.
Those photographers are why at 6-7 years in as a photographer I was helping new photographers, passing on what I had learned in the rodeo field, helping with gear, lighting, positioning. I started one doing one on one, then blogging, and eventually I did write a book on my experiences meant to help guide new photographers so maybe they wouldn’t make the same mistakes I did. I love mentoring and passing on my knowledge and I found this stage earlier than I could have imagined. Now I am moving on to speaking engagements and the one goal I have is to encourage the newest wave of photographers to have fun with it, to be open, flexible, and willing to pass it on when their time comes.