If I am afraid of mistakes or have doubts that I can take good pictures, I would have put aside my photographic gears long time ago. If I don’t have self-confidence (Lesson #1) and I am not willing to be creative (Lesson #4), today, I would still be wondering why others can do it and why can’t I? If I did not persevere, I would not be able to capture the beautiful sunrise at Changi Beach below. This picture took me 2 years of “Keeping At It and Not Giving Up!”
Pic #1: Sunrise at Changi Beach
When I go for landscape shoot outings, I take an average about 100-150 shots per outing (digital photography makes it easier and almost cost free today). I will try all sorts of angles, camera settings and interpretations of the site. When the shot is over exposed, I’ll try again. When the lens is not right, I’ll change it. When the view is not fantastic, I’ll move to another location to take a fresh look, etc. When I shoot, I will not be worried about making mistakes. I will keep at it until I capture one possible good shot (that’s how I started, by trial and error). Even so, if I have the time, I will try another angle or interpretation. I will not stop, even when I get the first shot that I am happy with!
Do I like making mistakes? Of course not! I am not saying that we ought to make needless mistakes. We want to take the time to get as much information and as many insights as we possibly can. Then, if we do make a mistake, we can ask why things happened as they did, what we can learn, and how we can make things work. As I hone my skills over time, I hope to make fewer mistakes and take more good pictures. But whenever I make a mistake, I will ask myself how do I learn from it? I will reflect on the mistakes and turn the situation around the next time. To help me along, I keep a shoot journal to document my learning and reflections after every shoot session. At the end of the day, if I can only keep 1 or 2 shots from the 100-150 shots I have taken from an outing, I will be fine because I know that I am a step closer to better photography. I will just reflect on my learning and make it better the next round. Most importantly, I keep at it and do not give up!
When Thomas Edison was attempting to discover the light bulb he was not met with much support from the scientific community. As a matter of fact, they thought he was crazy to try to invent something that was clearly impossible. A young reporter interviewed Edison and asked him, "Mr. Edison, how can you continue to try to invent the light bulb when you have failed over 5,000 times." To which Thomas Edison replied, "Young man, I have not failed 5,000 times. I have successfully discovered 5,000 ways that do not work and I do not need to try them again." This is a great way to interpret failure - as a learning experience.
I remember when my girls were younger, they were curious about everything. They would ask me lots of questions daily. They would experiment and try out all sorts of things just to satisfy their curiosity. They were not afraid of making mistakes. When they wanted to find out about something, they would keep at it (and never give up) until they got their answers.
Well, as we grow older, we realised that learning is part of life and it never stops. However, we hopefully assume that our propensity to make mistakes will stop. As we grow older, mistakes are harder to take. We learn that bruises to our pride and egos hurt just as much as bruises to our bodies. So, what is our natural reaction? We gradually decided to stay within our comfort zone, not take unnecessary risk and avoid trying new things. As the saying goes, we tend to gravitate towards the path of least resistance. In doing so, we will not make any mistakes, but we also do not achieve anything as well.
Most of the world’s greatest accomplishments were produced only after innumerable mistakes (with learning). There are no mistakes in life; only lessons. What this means is that whenever something happens, there is a something for you to learn.
Pic #2: Sunrise at Changi Beach
"There are no mistakes, no coincidences.
All events are blessings given to us to learn from."
~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Life is a classroom. Besides presenting lots of challenges, life also presents us with windows of opportunity, what the French photographer, Cartier-Bresson called, “decisive moments.” Moments where it all comes together. If life is a classroom, all of us can choose whether we want to sit in the back, relax and do our own thing or we want to sit in the front row and diligently taking down notes. We have a choice. If life is a classroom, I would sit in front and pay attention to all the lessons. What will you do?
Some questions for your reflection…
1. How open are you when it comes to mistakes? How do you learn from your mistakes?
Do you learn from your mistakes?
2. Can you think of a situation when your character is strengthen after a failure or a mistake?
What happened?
3. What will you do differently after reading this sharing? If not now, when?
There you have it folks! Hope you have enjoyed my "CLICK" series.
Stay tuned for my next series of sharing...Coming Soon.
Life lessons I learnt from Photography "CLICK":
Life lessons #1: Confidence in Self & Pay the Price
Life lessons #5: Keep at it. Don't Give Up!
More pictures on the beautiful sunrise @ Changi Beach on 7 May (Polling day):
For more photos on the sunrise @ Changi Beach, click here!
Anazingly beautiful photographs and wonderful reflection.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing what patience/persistence, coupled with imagination/experimentation can accomplish.
Thank you Christian. :)
ReplyDeleteAmazing!! Nice!!
ReplyDelete