I just read a post on David duChemin’s PixelatedImage that really made me think.

The post, titled “Doomed to Mediocrity“, and the follow-up posted titled “Doomed(?) Revisted” really hit home for me.

The basis for the original post was a letter received from a photographer who felt that they were doomed to mediocrity because they didn’t feel as though they were able to focus on anything.  The photographer writes:

I don’t do expert well. I do bouncing around, try everything once well. Chalk it up to my being Gemini, too much coffee or ADD. I can get good, and focus for short periods of time but when the next shiny thing comes along – zoom, off I go..

David duChemin and his readers provide some excellent tips..jump over and read those.

As for me….I feel the same way as the person who wrote into David.

I have a lot of interests.

Photography (of course!) is a passion and has become a large part of my life these days but I’m also working on a doctorate in information systems and have a few entrepreneurial activities that I want to be able to focus.

But…do I have the time to do all this ‘stuff’?  Can I do all of these things well?  Can I really be a great photographer without focusing solely on the art and craft of taking great photographs?

So it brings up the question:  Is it OK to be an average photographer?

For me, it is.

I don’t have time to be an expert at much….but I don’t really want to be.   I’ll never be the world’s best photographer.  I may grow into being a decent wildlife photographer and would love to be able to make a living doing that, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a world-renowned photographer.

So…it’s OK (for me) to be an average photographer. I love being in the outdoors shooting wildlife and landscapes and would love to make some money doing it but I realize there are people out there who are much smarter, much better photographers and who work much harder than I do at the craft of photography. They’ll be the experts.

Average isn’t great, but it isn’t supposed to be.

If you want to be a world-renowned photographer, you’ll need to work hard, study hard and catch a little bit of luck.

If you want to make a living at photography, you’ll need to be a bit better than average.

But, if you’re like me, and love photography for the sake of photography a, enjoy being ‘average’.  Enjoy your shooting and enjoy your life.

No related posts.