Lateral skills

I’m Dave Williams and today it’s #TravelTuesday, which means I’m here again. I’m knee-deep in my latest project and it got me thinking about skills transferable to and from photography. This particular project is a van build—if you’re following my social media, you’ll know a little about what I’m up to already. If you don’t, here’s a peek: –

That’s the insulated interior of the van, ready for walls, flooring, and a ceiling to cover it up. But, what transferable skills help us in photography?

Attention to detail

In fixing up this van and getting it ready for furniture to go in, I’ve had to pay a lot of attention to detail. It’s strange, though, because it’s things that nobody else will notice. I’ve had to deal with small patches of rust to stop them from spreading, for example. But, these small patches, after having been treated, were covered up with paint, then insulation, then more insulation, meaning only I know that they’re there. The same thing happens in photography in that we pay very close attention to details that are likely not even noticed, or we hope aren’t noticed, in the final image. Darkening an area that’s not particularly interesting in the hope that people don’t pay it any attention, or cloning an area to change its makeup are translatable, and they’re both things we do as photographers to improve our photos, but that we don’t want people to ever see.

Repetition

We often repeat ourselves. We often repeat ourselves. Learning a new skill or art involves repetition. They say, “practice makes perfect.” I don’t know who “they” are, but it’s true. Learning how to build a van involves picking up a lot of new skills, which in turn, means a lot of practice and subsequent repetition. Once a new skill pops up and needs to be utilised, a lot of learning through repetition helps to make it easy and eventually put us on autopilot.

Reflection

After we do almost anything in life, we reflect. We wonder if we could have done it better, or perhaps just differently so that we can consider our approach the next time. It’s all part of our own personal development and, as photographers, it’s also part of our professional development. By our very nature, we are critical, and being critical of ourselves forms a part of this.

Whatever we’re doing in our life, we can transfer thoughts, ideas, and even processes in and out of our photography. It’s all part of our journey, and it will always help us to grow. For now, I have to get back to building this van.

Until next week…

Much love

Dave

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