“Every Artist was First an Amateur”    Ralph Waldo Emerson

The goal of the First an Amateur blog is to help you learn how to improve your photography. This blog will not be a check list of things to do to make you a better photographer; you’ve read that list in books or on-line and they may or may not have helped that much. Instead of a “try this” list, I plan on sharing the journey I am taking to improve my photography skills including the frustrations, the motivational challenges, and the experiences that tended to boost my morale. I will also bring in other amateur photographer into the conversation to share their experiences with the goal of all of us learning together.

This First an Amateur blog is not just for seniors that are retiring and have nothing better to do with their time. It is for anyone that would like to become a serious amateur photographer who moves beyond the point-and-shoot stage of taking pictures of family, travel, and daily events. First an Amateur is intended to introduce you to a number of other amateurs who are also on a journey to become more of an artistic photographer.

You can probably remember the time, back in the day, when you wanted to become an Olympic skier, or a concert pianist, or an astronaut who walked on the moon, or a teacher who made a difference in the lives of children, or an outdoor photographer who climbed Mount Everest. Many of us had those dreams but we were never able to achieve them due to a lack of time, passion, devotion, skill, or uncontrollable circumstances.

And maybe now we have aspirations to become a scratch golfer, or a chef that neighbors and family compliment at every meal, or a singer in the church choir that is asked to sing the solo, or an amateur photographer that has a website that receives accolades and earns awards for outstanding photographs. Is such an aspiration reasonable or just daydreaming about a goal that is far from achievable?

We may have an idea of how others achieved lifetime success; they committed their lives to their goals and we admire them for the accomplishment. But how could we achieve our “secondary goals” now that we are moving on with our lives? When someone commits every minute of their life to their goals they are more likely to succeed, but can we succeed at a new secondary goal when our life has other demands and challenges? Can we still achieve the goal that always dropped off our radar? Can we take on that goal now as a hobby or perhaps even a vocation? As is always the case in life, you’ll never know until you try.

Since starting my photography journey I have talked with many other amateur photographers who are on the same journey; people who sometimes struggle to improve their photographs but other times make important jumps in their art.

Their journeys sounded so familiar that I asked them if they would be willing to share their story with me by answering about a dozen questions so I could compare their experience to my own and others. Fortunately they were very willing to answer the questions and I am hoping this blog will motivate you to join the discussion and share some of your stories and questions about the challenges and successes you have experienced.

I am retired now but for 37 years I was an educational psychology professor. I spent my professional life studying how people learn and how teachers can impact the motivation and learning of their students. Now, three years later, I miss exploring the teaching-learning process and regularly reflect on learning how to become a better photographer. I can’t turn-off my curiosity and wonder at how people learn new skills and solve problems. I’ve come to believe that sharing my journey, and the journey of the other 12 photographers I am working with, will help other amateur photographers to improve their photographic skills and understand their motivation to become an artful photographer.

Creating the First an Amateur blog allows me to explore how other amateur photographers are learning new skills and solving problems.   I am excited to work with a group of amateurs who share a similar photography journey and to explore with them how to help people learn to refine their photographic skills. And I am looking forward to help readers learn photography from the journey of the dozen people who are working with me. I hope you will read about what we have learned and share your frustrations and excitement, successes and failures, and what helped you to move forward with better artistic photographs. I hope to help create an on-line community that builds on Emerson’s idea that “Every Artist was First an Amateur.”

Optional Homework

My years of teaching showed me that when learners are engaged in answering a question their learning is more effective. So to help you learn more from my next post I would like you to think about the following question, and if you want to learn even more you can send me your answer. Here is the topic I will cover next week and the question I would like you to consider:

What do you believe is the single most important variable in improving as a photographer? There is no right answer and the most important variable in your success may be different from the critical variable of success for other people. Here are some possible variables you might want to consider: better gear; more time; better camera skills; post-processing skills; more motivation; better understanding composition; live in a better photographic environment; access to coach/photography teacher; more energy to get out of bed at sunrise. The last one is kind of a joke but not completely. The next post should be in approximately a week. Feel free to send me your answer and I may include it in the post.

“Our” Goal”

My goal is to get a number of amateur photographers interested in joining in “our journey” to discover and implement strategies to improve our photography. I describe this as our journey because I am going to share with all of you what I am learning as I improve my photographic skills and motivation. And I also have about a dozen folks who are willing to share their journey by answering questions (Blog Questions) I have sent them about how they are improving their photography.  If you would like to join-in on the conversation, please upload and answer the Word questions and send me your answers. But I also want you to get involved by asking questions, sharing problems and/or successes, and contributing to “First an Amateur.” Essentially my goal is our goal because this is our journey not just Randy’s journey. My plan is to have a post just about every week that discusses topics that impact our photography. I’ll try to give a fairly simple homework assignment every week to encourage you to think about a topic and hopefully help you to advance your journey.