Let me start by saying that I’m a recovering perfectionist. I can’t remember ever NOT striving for perfection, and criticizing myself for anything but. Where did it come from? I don’t know, maybe I was born this way. A lot of therapy didn’t seem to give me complete insight, so I’ve moved on.

What I do know is that I’m better at recognizing it. I have a mantra “done is better than perfect”. I’d like to credit it to the right person, but that phrase swirls around so much that I’m not sure exactly where or who it came from.

Let’s talk about how this relates to my photography skills, or sometimes in my mind, lack thereof. Yes I can still compare my photos to what others create and think “wow I’m not very good” or “their photos sure are better” or whatever madness creeps in there.

But what I have achieved is moving past the expectation of perfection, or my work looking like someone else’s. I accept my photos for what they are, and I’ve learned to love them that way.

In the spirit of this blog post, I went back and picked out photos that were initially rejected. This one was made in Uzès, France.

My first experience in photography was taking a class, which a lot of you have probably done too. In courses, the instructor’s objective is to teach you the “right way” to make photos. How to get exactly the right exposure, focus, composition, etc. So as a diligent student, I took that all in and set my expectations on perfection.

Now I’m not saying that all of my photography instructors are at fault here. Au contraire. They were just doing their job, teaching me the stuff I needed to know. I take everything to a whole other level of expectation and comparison...so this is all on me.

But the funny thing is that the perfectionism also started to dissolve more when I worked with another photography instructor. She was my mentor for a year and taught documentary style photography. What she (and I’ll admit, there’s definitely a difference in she vs he photography instructors and methods of teaching) taught is that the MOMENT not just the mechanics of the photograph is what’s important.

Wait, what??? Even if it’s slightly out of focus and a little underexposed it can still be good if the moment you capture is a tearjerker?? Yep, that’s what she said. And who am I to argue? She’s a successful photographer with a thriving business and community of learners. (Kirsten Lewis - look her up, she’s legit!)

This once-rejected photo was made in Avignon, France - a lovely city!

This newfound insight gave me a whole new perspective of my photos. Some that I had discounted as “not good enough” suddenly made the cut. Some that I thought were “eh, fine” now were suddenly museum-worthy (ok that might be a bit of an exaggeration for effect).

And here’s the other thing that thinking with a documentary perspective gave me. Insight into why I create photos. Is it just to post on social media and have someone “like” it? Is it to have family or friends ooh and ahh over it when you get home from a big trip? Sure oohs and ahhs are nice, who doesn’t like those??

But ultimately what I decided with all this soul searching is that I make photos for me. To create a document, a memory of my experiences. To remember so I can relive and yes so I can share. Because by sharing I get to inspire someone else to travel or make photos or just push themself out of their comfort zone.

So I create photos to document and to inspire. Wow! What a freaking revelation! And with that new frame of reference, I can look at my photos as more than just “is it perfectly crisply focused or not?”, “is the exposure perfect or can it be adjusted to perfection in Lightroom?”

This saved reject was made in Tuscany, Italy on a bus tour I took from Rome. At this stop our bus had actually broken down and we were waiting for repairs. Not a bad place to be stranded!

NOW I look at my photos with these questions:

Do I like it?
Does it remind me of something that brings a smile to my face?
Is there a sweet or funny moment captured?
Is this something I want to remember?

And of course I still have thoughts of “well that sure could have been better”, and generally not many make the cut the first time around. But the second round? A whole lot more are making the cut than before.

Because now I have different questions.

And why am I sharing my neurosis with you? Because I’m hoping that my sharing can give you a bit of insight into your photo judgement. Into how you select which ones make the cut and which ones don’t. Are you discarding perfectly lovely and memorable photos for the wrong reasons?

Sure we could all stand to improve our techniques. Sure your photos could be better, so could mine!

But guess what? Your photos, no matter where you are in the process, are providing you with sweet memories. So let’s look at them with a little different perspective.

It’s OK to look at your photos with a critical eye in the hopes of improving your technique. But I also want you to look with a gentle eye and really embrace some of your photos for what they are - lovely moments that you will want to remember forever.

And even if they aren’t perfect, you can still like them. Heck you can even love them if you want to!

The Rome Colosseum. I honestly don’t even know why this one was rejected!

I’m a firm believer in the power of the mind. So if you’re constantly telling yourself that you’re not good at making photos, that your photos suck...then you believe it and they do. But if you tell yourself “my photos are improving all the time and some of them are good”. Then guess what? You WILL get better and some of your photos WILL be (or probably are) good!

I want you to take a few minutes (or hours, you might really enjoy this exercise) to look back at some old photos. Or lots of them if you’re up for it. Look at them with a different perspective. Look at them not as “good” or “bad” but rather as a memory or a moment. Do you see something different? Do you see some that you like now that you didn’t before?

And let me know in the comments what you discover. You know I always LOVE to hear about aha moments so don’t deny me!!

How I Learned to Like My Imperfect Photos

Ready to create photos you LOVE?