Just a fun encore: You Might Be a Bad Photographer if...

Scott Bourne ran this post a long time ago and I ran it on the PhotoResource blog, but I came across it recently and just started laughing again.

Well, that got me thinking about whether or not Scott had covered it all. So, I added more signs of my own and it was just too easy!   Enjoy it for the laughs and if you ever find yourself hitting any one of the signs we've listed, get yourself to a decent workshop ASAP...like SCU! (Come on, you'd be disappointed in me if I didn't plug one of the best workshops out there! LOL)

Feel free to send your own additions to the list and we'll make it an ongoing project.

by Scott Bourne

(With a hat tip to Jeff Foxworthy!)

You might be a bad photographer if:

1. You think that merely owning a Leica means your images will hang in a museum.

2. You know nothing about and care nothing about your subject.

3. You need to get drunk or stoned before you think making pictures is fun.

4. You think that paying extra for the “PRO” account on Flickr makes you a professional photographer.

5. You spend more time explaining your photographs than you do making them.

6. You think that picking up your camera once a year during a national holiday means you’re avoiding getting rusty.

7. You spend more time on camera forums belittling other people’s photographs than you do trying to figure out how to make your own better.

8. You spend ANY time complaining that your pictures don’t get enough LIKES on Facebook or Flickr.

9. You’re more interested in making photographs that cause the cool kids to promote you on Google+ than you are telling stories with your camera that matter to your subjects.

10. You think that pixel-peeping and measure-beating will cause you to be a successful and famous artist – or – to get that girl you met in college to like you.

Well, those were Scott's, but I want to add a few of my own...

11. You're too tired and hungover at any of the big conventions to make the workshop programs you signed up for, so you spend the day in bed.

12. Your website galleries have way too many images that are no better than what "Uncle Harry" could shoot.

13. You've spent too much time talking about your camera gear instead of showing you know how to use it.

14. Your holiday cards were bought at CVS rather than created with your own images.

15. Your portfolio is loaded with images from workshops where you stood right behind the instructor during a hands-on shooting session.

Okay, I'm having too much fun with this, but here's the thing that's so cool. If you're reading this blog you're more than likely not even close to being in the category of a bad photographer. You might lack the experience to create amazing images, but taking the time to read everything you can, says you're doing the things you need to do to grow. Passion will always trump complacency and welcome to the photography industry - you've got passion! Which all boils down to your commitment to grow your skill set.

"The kind of commitment I find among the best performers across virtually every field is a single-minded passion for what they do, an unwavering desire for excellence in the way they think and the way they work. Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step."
Jim Collins, Business Author

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