Creative Growth

Three Words That Will Tell You More About Your Photography Than Any Online Critique Ever Will
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Three Words That Will Tell You More About Your Photography Than Any Online Critique Ever Will

Every Sunday morning I take a photo walk through my neighborhood in Seattle. No agenda, no client brief, no pressure. Just me and whatever camera I grabbed on the way out the door. And for the first two years I was doing this, I kept coming home and feeling vaguely unsatisfied without being able to explain why. The shots weren’t technically wrong. The exposure was fine, the composition was decent. But something wasn’t clicking, and I didn’t know how to name the gap between what I was making and what I actually wanted to make.

Why Changing Your Location Might Be the Best Photography Lesson You Never Planned
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Why Changing Your Location Might Be the Best Photography Lesson You Never Planned

There’s a version of me from a few years ago who had Seattle completely figured out, photographically speaking. I knew which corners of Pike Place caught the best morning light, which rainy-day reflections looked best on Broadway, and exactly what time the ferries created that perfect silhouette against the sound. It felt like mastery. Looking back, it was actually a trap. I stumbled onto this exact idea while watching a recent tutorial from Sean Tucker, a photographer whose thoughtful, reflective approach to the craft I genuinely admire.

Why Encouraging Other Photographers Is One of the Most Powerful Things You Can Do
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Why Encouraging Other Photographers Is One of the Most Powerful Things You Can Do

There’s a version of photography culture that feels like a competition. Whose gear is better, whose edit is cleaner, whose follower count is climbing faster. I spent my first couple of years shooting in that headspace, quietly comparing myself to everyone and saying very little to the people around me. What changed things wasn’t a new lens or a Lightroom preset. It was a stranger at a coffee shop asking how I got a particular shot, and me actually sitting down and explaining it.

From Technical to Intentional: What Brandon's Photography Breakthrough Can Teach You
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From Technical to Intentional: What Brandon's Photography Breakthrough Can Teach You

There’s a specific kind of frustration that hits photographers around the two-to-five year mark. You know your camera. You understand exposure, you can shoot in manual, you’ve read about the rule of thirds so many times you could recite it in your sleep. And yet something still feels off. The photos come back technically fine, but they don’t move anyone. They don’t even move you. That gap, between knowing how a camera works and knowing how to make a photograph that actually says something, is one of the hardest things to close on your own.

Starting Before You're Ready: What Peter McKinnon's Journey to 1 Million Subscribers Taught Me About Creative Risk
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Starting Before You're Ready: What Peter McKinnon's Journey to 1 Million Subscribers Taught Me About Creative Risk

There’s a photo on my phone that I’ve never posted anywhere. It’s slightly blurry, taken in bad light, and the composition is nothing special. But I look at it constantly, because it’s from the week before I started seriously teaching photography. It captures something true about where I was, even if it captures it imperfectly. I thought about that photo the entire time I watched this milestone video from Peter McKinnon.

Why Technical Perfection Isn't Always the Goal in Photography
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Why Technical Perfection Isn't Always the Goal in Photography

Rethinking What Makes a Great Photograph For years, I operated under a rigid set of photographic rules. Every image needed to be razor-sharp, perfectly exposed, grain-free, and free from any optical imperfections. I believed that technical mastery was the foundation of good photography, and I pursued it relentlessly. But looking back at my body of work, I’ve noticed something surprising: the photographs that resonate most with me—and with viewers—aren’t always the ones that check every technical box.