Puppy Love

I share these photos because I was inspired by someone to address my fear of being seen as less than “perfect”. Online, we curate our work to showcase our best. Which is a good thing as far as marketing is concerned. However… no one is perfect. Sometimes trying to show perfection holds us back.

So… here are a few photos of a puppy… done very imperfectly… that would otherwise never be published anywhere… because they’re not perfect.

But… the awww factor is still there… So… there you have it… puppy love.

Thinking ahead to love

At the peak of the chat about romance… it was time to attempt to capture the glimmer of love. That sparkle one has in their eyes when thinking about their significant other.

Well, that is a lot easier to do when not dealing with mid-day sunlight. This set was thrown off by the harshness of the sun… the impact of shadows… and the lack of focus from the photographer. I should have been more careful in setting up the shots and my camera. However, let’s not beat me up too badly here.

When Taking a Stand

One of the lessons I’ve learned from this shoot, as painful a lesson as it was (me being critical on myself), you have to help the model present her best self in every shot. I had never given much thought to posing a person before this shoot. After looking at the results… I knew I had to put more effort in helping pose the subjects.

CV did a wonderful job. I didn’t. I just snapped away while chatting away. That’s why I called this shoot a test. I had not fully realized how much details had to be accounted for. The professionals who read this will instantly find all my flaws. The average iPhone photographer will hopefully be a little more forgiving.

I definitely took the lessons to heart and did a far better job the next time I had a chance to do photos with her. Yes, it still pains me to look at this shoot and see the injustice I did to my friend. However, I’m sharing this to motivate and encourage those photographers who are still early in their journey. You don’t start off perfect. You do make mistakes.

You can look ahead to loving your craft. You’ve just got to plan better… think ahead… and learn. Then, one day… you’ll have all these amazing photos to share that impresses everyone online and offline.

Even the scenery shots… le sigh

Yeah.. I really was having an off day that day. Even the water fall, the swimming fish, and the bottom of the lake were not done well.

I’m still cringing at this photo session. However. I’m going ahead with sharing this post because I’m trying to face my own insecurities and finding a way to own them… then work on changing them.

One other thing I learned… when you leave these fears unchecked, they creep up and mess you up when you least expect. I’ve had other shoots go just as bad because I could not get out of my own way… out of my own head.

The internal dialogue would get so loud and distracting that I stopped paying attention to the ever changing conditions of a shoot… and the images suffered. This post is a reminder to myself to keep working on my inner game so that my art will reflect the creativity I am capable of doing.

It’s not always about the equipment. It’s more about the creative. When you’re in a good place, you create good art. When you’re in a ‘convoluted’ space… your art suffers as well. Can I find it in my hear to not be so hard on myself about this shoot? Yes… of course. This was taken a long time ago. CV is married and happily doing great. However. I know that when I don’t focus and am not present in the shoots I do… I get similar results. (which is far less likely to happen today)

Sure, if the person is not familiar with my work, they may find the photos acceptable. But, I know what I can do. I know how my work looks when I’m in the zone. Same applies to all my other creative outlets.

I made myself a bit vulnerable today so that a bit of realism touches someone who suffers from perfectionism-itis. The condition where one is trying to be perfect… but uses that ideal as an excuse not to get better at their craft.

You see, a true perfectionist will put in a ton of time to get things right and perfect. But… the one suffering from perfectionism-itis will let fear cripple their efforts… so that they don’t create better. Then, they can rely on the excuse of saying “I have to have it perfect or I can’t do this”.

We all know those people who procrastinate and avoid doing the necessary work… because they can’t see it being perfect the first time around. They keep putting off starting because they’re scared of being seen as less than perfect. This has cost me many opportunities. This will cost you many opportunities as well. Just start. Just start. Improve as you go along. It is never perfect the first time around.

This post is for us all who fear being discovered as less than perfect. I’m pointing the finger at myself first.I learned so much from this less than ideal shoot.. I’ve grown so much from it. It’s sessions like this that keep me going when other projects seem too big to tackle… or too hard to master… and I want to give up. This helps me look ahead to what I love… so I can do the work to get to where I need to be to love what I do.

despite feeling really bad about these photos… they did inspire some poetry… linked below… after the shoutout to CV’s project page… about food. So, foodies… rejoice… there is another source of inspiration out there to devour

Until next time… keep looking ahead to love… as you perfect your craft today.

---

Dream by day… poetically

The eyes flickered… candidly… thinking about his word… quite frankly… as she smiled openly.

With a slight tilt of the head… her mind slipped away… to the island vacation where her man was going to take her.

They would be on a beach, reciting poetry together, drinking some coconut water.

So wonderfully, happily, and joyfully. They had saved enough to get away and save themselves.

to get more of this poetic word play… follow the link below… as you dream of romance

Here are other posts and projects with this model

• Looking Ahead to Love - Taking a moment to get vulnerable about a photographic fail... only to end up creating some poetry Live and learn. Creating better from failures
• Poetic DayDream - Candid photos can inspire poetic words Taking the dog days of summer in stride A throwback photo set inspiring poetry

---

For more posts, here is the portfolio page of Claire aka CV for you to enjoy