I’d been having some tough times with the quality of my photos, after I thought I had learned so much about photography, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, been so happy with my success in terms of photos accepted at stock websites, framed photos sold, etc. , recently I just couldn’t get a photo I was happy with to save my life, very soft focus, grr, what could I be doing wrong? That whole impostor thing was hovering just over my shoulder whispering in my ear: “See? what were you thinking? you’re not a photographer, never will be…”
The final straw was when I went to the Ann Arbor Derby Dimes bout, so excited to take photos, trying out a new Nikon 28-70 f/2.8 lens so I knew I’d have plenty of light coming in, so proud to be wearing my media pass, and still… crap photos… sigh… I decided to be bold at intermission and ask another photographer there, Dave, to take a look at my settings and see if he saw anything wrong. He was most generous, took a look at my photos, my settings, loaned me his flash so I could try some photos with it, and agreed that I was doing everything right, the photos should look better than what I was getting.
On Monday I went to Midwest Camera, a licensed Nikon repair shop to have them take a look, and wouldn’t you know it, the focus IS off, after 14 years and tens of thousands of photos the camera was tired and needed some care. Whew, what a relief! I can’t wait to see the quality of the photos I get after I get it back.
Of course after that if the photos are still crap I’ll have no one to blame by myself… hmm…
Susan Montgomery Photos 