The Beginner Photography Podcast

The 6 Photography Mindset Shifts Every Beginner Needs to Hear

• Raymond Hatfield

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#552 In this episode of the podcast, I share the core principles that shape both my personal photography journey and the mission of the podcast. Recognizing that photography can feel overwhelming for newcomers, I focus on shifting the mindset from technical skills to capturing meaningful moments. By sharing six foundational principles, I aim to inspire creativity, enhance confidence, and help photographers of all levels rediscover their passion for photography. I emphasize the importance of capturing emotions and stories over technical perfection, reminding myself and listeners that photography is about seeing and experiencing the world around us.

THE CORE PRINCIPLES

  1. Moment Matters More Than Settings
  2. The Best Camera Is the One You Use
  3. Don't Worry About RAW
  4. Lighting Matters More Than Your Camera Gear
  5. Photography Is a Way to See, Not Just a Skill
  6. You Must Share Your Work

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS

  • Rembrandt Lighting: A classic lighting technique characterized by a small triangle of light on the shadowed side of the face, used to create depth and dimension.

DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. How can focusing on moments over settings change your approach to photography?
  2. What are some practical ways to practice seeing light in everyday settings?

RESOURCES:
Free Guide: 5 Questions To Ask Before Pressing the Shutter - https://beginnerphotopod.com/5Qs

Download your free copy of
46 Creative Photo Ideas to Get You Out of a Rut
at https://creativeimageideas.com/

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond!


Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

Raymond Hatfield:

You just need to find the right light and know how to position your subject. That's it. Rembrandt didn't have any studio lights. He didn't have any fancy lenses. He didn't even know what a camera was. It wouldn't even be invented for another 220 years. And yet his paintings hang in the world's best museums because of his ability to capture light and mood. That's what light can do for you. So strive to do the same with your images. Hey, welcome to the Beginner Photography Podcast. I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield, and listen I know that photography can feel overwhelming when you are just starting out. At one point I was a beginner and there was a lot that was overwhelming that, I had to overcome between things like your camera settings, all of the gear comparisons that you'll find online. There's so many different editing apps. And are they subscriptions? Are they a one-time payment? Endless amounts of tutorials. Right. I know that it is so easy to feel stuck, like you're doing it, quote unquote wrong or feeling like you're not creative enough compared to the others who you see online. Again, I've been there, but I want this episode to remind you that photography is not just about F stops. It's not just about megapixels. Photography is about learning to see. Photography is about slowing down. Photography is about noticing beauty in the every day, and I think to capture and preserve the moments that matter most in our life. And again, that's why today I'm gonna share the core principles that not only guide this podcast, but how I interact with the community and my own journey behind the camera. So, what we're about to get into. They're not just tips. It's not just, do this thing and everything's gonna change. These are more mindset shifts. I think the mindset of photography is one of the most important things to focus on, because tips and tricks we can always pick up along the way, but if you come into photography with a solid understanding of why you're doing it, then everything else is just, just extra, you know? So all of these mindset shifts today are here to help you to take more meaningful photos. They're here to help you feel less intimidated. And for those of you who maybe haven't picked up a camera in a few weeks. Again, that's been me, especially over the wintertime. I hope that this episode helps you to rediscover the joy of simply picking up your camera and snapping a few photos. This episode will apply to you whether you're just starting out. Maybe you did get a camera over the holidays, or you've been shooting for years, and you're, you're still trying to refine your craft. These simple six principles that I'm gonna give you today, I hope give you clarity on exactly what to shoot. That's the motivation why you shoot and help build a creative foundation for you to grow into over the next lifetime of photography. So why don't we go ahead and just dive straight on in. I came up with these core principles because I want photography to be easier for you. don't want you to get stuck in the weeds of everything related to photography. Especially the gear. We have so much emphasis and stress on gear these days, and as a professional photographer shooting for 10 plus years shooting weddings, I've had a camera in my hand, going on more than 20 years now, I can tell you that core principle number one moment matters more than settings. I can definitively say that. A compelling image. I think that's what we all want to capture a compelling image. And a compelling image is about emotion. It's not about perfection. As a photographer, one of the most important things that you can do is lean into your instincts, trust your instincts, and then instincts on, on timing, on what it is that you're shooting on, why it's important, and then you focus on framing, and then you just let your subject guide the shot. So if you've been listening to the podcast for any length of time, you've heard me share that. I went to film school. That's how I got into this visually creative career. And I majored in cinematography. And if you don't know, cinematography is, well, it's focused on the technical perfection. It is the director's job to worry about the actors and their movements and their reactions, and he's gonna control their movements and it's the director who's gonna control all of their movements. So again, my world as a cinematographer was purely technical perfection. I didn't have to worry about the people. I didn't have to worry about anything else. But the camera movement, the lens choice, the lighting, and of course camera settings. So when I transitioned out of cinematography and into photography, I brought that with me and honestly, that was to my detriment because I didn't think about the people. Because I never had to before, I always told myself, this is what they look like. This is how the moment happened. I'm not gonna interfere with them and make them look like a version of themselves that maybe they're not. I'm gonna focus on the things that I can focus on in my first family shoot. I got kicked in the teeth. I metaphorically, I got, I got metaphorically kicked in the teeth. The daughter was sick. She never smiled. She didn't wanna sit still, you know? Surprise, surprise. It's kids. And in my head I remember thinking, okay. If I am technically perfect with my camera settings, with my light, with my lens choice, with my background, that's gonna overshadow how bad everything else is going, And it didn't. It did not. In fact, don't even think that they cared about, about the light, the lens choice, the background, any of that. They didn't even care about it. They just wanted to know why their daughter looked like garbage. Why did she look so sick? But what hurt the most is, get this. The family used a cell phone photo from that day of a candid moment where their daughter was laughing for their Christmas card photo that year. They chose a photo of a wonderful moment, as a family laughing, it was joy over a photo that was technically perfect. As a photographer, I learned a very important lesson that day, and it was, I need to be both a cinematographer and a director because the majority of people can't name a single cinematographer, but they can name at least a director. And when you think about that. The director's job is to interact with people and get them to feel something so that they can capture that on film. That's what you need to get to learn, to interact with people, learn to see the moment, and if you do that, rather than watching, I don't know, another camera review or tutorial on YouTube, you're gonna be gold. Now the goal, of course, is, is both right. Get to the point to where you're both, where you can focus and capture both a great image technically and a great moment. But if I'm just starting out in photography, I'm worried less about the camera and more about the people and the moment. So that was core principle number one. Moment matters more than settings. I've said it before. Another variation moment matters most. Alright. Core principle number two. The best camera is the one that you use. I'm sure you've heard other variations of this as well. But it's hard to feel like that's true when you first get into photography. You typically don't have a top of the line camera. You have something, more entry level and you're not able to get the photos that you see other people getting. it, it's a very easy bridged across to think, okay, if I use the camera that they're using. All get better photos, but your gear doesn't define your creativity. Your skill as a photographer comes from your experience. Not the hesitation, oh, this camera isn't good enough. I wish I had something better. Seriously, pick up whatever camera you have and just start shooting. I end every episode with, the more you shoot today, the better of a photographer you'll be tomorrow. Every shot you take is a step forward in the direction of becoming the photographer that you wanna become. And let me, let me just go on a little, diatribe here for a moment. If you have been shooting for less than three years, you have no business watching camera reviews. There's no point. I get emails and I see comments from photographers all the time saying, I'm looking to get, into photography, but I can't decide what camera to buy. And I understand that, if you're getting into photography, there is an investment involved. You wanna make sure that it's a good investment. I understand the sentiment there, but the truth is, is that any modern digital camera today is great. My recommendation is to buy the cheapest DSLR that you can. And yes, even if it is a crop sense, in fact, especially if it is a crop sensor, I think that you should start with a crop sensor camera. If you find a cheap DSLR and it's a crop sensor, buy that one. Whether it's Cannon, whether it's Nikon, whether it's Sony, whether it's Fuji, whatever. Buy that one. And here's why. You have an idea of what you wanna shoot as a new photographer I did, I thought I wanted to shoot, you know, photograph families. But it's not until you get behind the camera consistently that you will know for sure. And by the time you do know, guess what, it's gonna be 2, 3, 4 years into your photography journey. By that time, guess what? It's time to upgrade cameras to match your skill level at which point in time you'll know exactly what features are the most important in a camera for you and for what you shoot. Personally, I will never buy another camera that doesn't have a tilty screen. It sounds stupid. I get it. I understand. But it's because of how much I photograph my kids at their eye level. I never take photos of my kids at my, five foot 11 height looking down on them. I always bring the camera down to their eye level or slightly lower and look more up at them with a tilty screen. It's just simply easier to stand tall and, and hold my camera at my waist and still be able to see and compose my frame at their eye level, because that's how I like to shoot. But guess what? That's something that I never would've known was important at all until I spent tens of thousands of shots bent over, breaking my back with my eye up to the camera. But if I would've spent, a thousand or$2,000 on a top of the line camera that still didn't have a tilty screen, I would just wanna upgrade in three years anyway. once I knew that there was a camera that was better suited to me and what it is that I shoot. So would you rather spend, say,$200 for an entry level camera that you're gonna replace in two years or$2,000 on a camera that you'll still wanna replace in two or three years And going back to the, crop sensor for full frame thing, if you shoot birds or sports or astrophotography, a crop sensor lends itself way more to those, those genres of photography than a full frame camera does. Because of the built-in crop factor, you're able to get closer to the action without having to invest in longer lenses. There's plenty of professional sports and wildlife photographers who only shoot in crop sensor cameras because it makes their job easier. It's not about one is better than another, it's what's best for you. And again, you cannot know that until you spend a lot of time behind the camera shooting. And lastly, like, what if, God forbid, what if you fall outta love with photography? If you do, that's gonna happen in the first year or so, you're gonna realize, oh man, this is a lot more than I thought. The juice is not worth the squeeze. I'll just use my iPhone. So again, I'd rather mitigate my potential loss with an entry level camera than a full frame camera. And if you buy an entry level camera. If you were thinking of buying a, a flagship camera, and then again, you do decide to invest in just an entry level camera, spend the rest of that money on lenses. Lenses will make so much more of a difference in your photography than the camera itself. I would way rather have a$200 camera with a$800 lens than an$800 camera with a$200 lens. Seriously, it's, it's no comparison. So there you go again. The best camera is the one that you actually use. Now, alright, before we move on to the next four core principles, I did put something together that I think you're really gonna find helpful. We've been talking about how the best photos aren't the ones with perfect settings. They're the ones that actually mean something. But in the moment, trust me, I know it's easy to overthink it. It's easy to second guess or just, flat out miss the shot because you're messing around with your camera. So to help you with that, I created a simple one page guide called Five Questions to Ask Before You Press the Shutter. These are the exact same questions that I still use in my head to slow myself down, get intentional and capture the moments that actually matter in photography. Not just the ones that are technically perfect. It's free, it's quick to read. And honestly, I think that it's really gonna help you to see differently, the next time that you pick up your camera. So you can download it right now by heading over to beginner photo pod.com/five qs for five questions. That's beginner photo pod.com/five. The letter Q, the letter s. Or just hit the link in the show notes. All right, so core principle number three. Don't worry about raw, do not get overwhelmed by the different file formats. Simply take photos so that you can build your confidence. Raw versus JPEG can come later, trust me. But just start shooting now And I'm not saying that raw is bad, it's not bad, it just adds too much on your plate as a new photographer. So if you haven't fell down the rabbit hole of, shoot RAW versus jpeg, or what are the differences, they are simply different image file formats that your camera can capture. JPEGs or jpg, so dot jpg file. So when you, click on a photo on your memory card, if it says, I don't know, DSC 1 0 6 4 jpg, it's a JPEG file. If it says, something like dot C3 or NEF or RAF or something like that, it's a raw file. JPEGs are the standard for sharing images on the internet. It's a small file size, so they don't take up a lot of storage. They're easy to download, but the trade off is that you don't have as much flexibility as a raw file when you're editing it. A raw file captures all of the raw light and color data off of the camera's sensor. And a raw file. The format is designed to be edited in a program like Adobe Lightroom all before it can be shared. So if you are less than three years into your photography journey, I firmly, firmly believe that you should not shoot raw. It's a hot take. I get it. I can hear people angrily turning off their podcast player right now. You've been told for so long that raw, raw is the superior file format. You can't be a serious photographer if you don't shoot raw. I hear that. But to that, I say, give me a damn break. Gimme a break. Come on. If you look past the fact that as a professional photographer for 10 years, I shot the last five years strictly in JPEG and still was named one of the top wedding photographers in Indianapolis, or that I never once had a single client say to me, wait, is this photo shot in jpeg? What's going on here? Or, that sensor technology continues to develop and get better and better and is so much better than it was 10 years ago. That JPEGs today have a lot more flexibility in editing than you may imagine. You listen to any photographer online who talks about shooting raw, they're gonna make you think that JPEGs are just useless and good for nothing. And I am here to tell you that they are not. Any image that you've seen of mine over the past, well, close to 10 years, was shot as a jpeg. Okay. But this whole thing, okay, I want this to be very clear. I'm not saying that JPEG is better than raw. Objectively Raw is a more flexible and a better file format if you intend to edit the photos, but shooting raw when you are new to your photography journey, introduces just yet another thing to learn and another variable to go wrong. And if you're somebody who has a full-time job and photography is a hobby and you want to get better and take some great photos, and now not only do you have to learn this camera and you know what the millimeters on your lens do and should be doing and why? And now you're trying to capture the moment and, oh wait, you're in the wrong, auto focus mode and you miss the shot and then you add an entire another level of editing onto those images. Where you can tweak everything from the individual colors and add stylistic effects and use presets. And how do you know when you're done editing? And how come it took like these three to four photos? I took them at the exact same time, but now one is darker than the other, or this one looks like green. And people look like zombies be Doing two things at once does not make you better at two things at the same time. It makes it so much more difficult. Imagine trying to become a professional race car driver. The day that you started your driver's lessons for your permit or whatever. It doesn't make sense. You have to understand the basics and get a foundation of photography before you move forward. Let's say you go out shooting, and the light is, it's beautiful and everything's working right, and you get home only to have to bring those images into a raw photo editor like Adobe Lightroom, and after a few minutes of moving sliders, but you're not entirely sure what it is that they do. Your image now looks overprocessed and not natural at all. And because you don't know what all of these sliders and buttons do when you're editing, you don't know how to get back and you think, wow, I liked the photo as it was. It was such a beautiful moment already. Whereas if you shot jpeg, it would be ready to share right away whether or not you want to edit the image. And again, that means photography becomes more fun. It becomes more enjoyable. There's less stress. Shooting raw from the beginning adds too much to your plate when you just want to take some photos and have some fun. Again, don't mix up my words. I'm not saying that JPEG is a superior file format. I'm saying that if you're learning photography. JPEG is the way to go so that you can focus all of your attention on learning the camera, seeing the moment, rather than adding in a whole nother layer of editing on top of that. Hold off on shooting raw JPEG is great. Seriously, again, I've shot all of my personal images of my family, of my kids, of my adventures, and five plus years of weddings in JPEG and never once thought to myself, man, I wish I shot this in raw. But I will say the first few years of shooting weddings, I shot them all in raw as an insurance policy because, well, what if I did mess up the light? I wanted to ensure that I had the flexibility when editing to be able to save and recover a photo as I got better of a photographer and my style in photography. I became more confident that I can shoot it right in camera so that when I'm done shooting it, I just am done. And that's the style of photographer that I want to be. If you wanna be the photographer who edits every photo, every aspect of it, you know you're bringing them into Photoshop, then yeah, shoot raw. There's nothing wrong with shooting raw, but if you're new to photography and you're learning all the things and you're feeling overwhelmed, then. Don't beat yourself up if you're shooting in jpeg. All right? I'm already mentally preparing myself for the amount of hate mail from people who didn't fully listen to that. That's, uh. It's coming my way. Alright, anyway, core principle number four. Let's move on. Let's get past this whole raw versus JPEG thing. Core principle number four is that lighting matters more than your camera gear, so therefore, learn to see light and you'll become a better photographer. Understanding light is going to improve your photos so much more than upgrading your gear. Your job as a photographer is to pay attention to how light shapes a scene and use what's available. You may or may not know this, but photography is actually, a Greek word, which comes from to write with light, not to write with the newest backlit stacked CMOs global camera sensor. It is to right with light, and therefore learning to see light is one of the most powerful things that you can do to be able to consistently take dynamic and visually beautiful photos. But learning to see light can seem hard. What do you mean learn to see light? I see light every day. You're right, you do in fact see light every day, but understanding things such as direction of where light is coming from, the difference between quality of light and quantity of light, and even the color of light, those are the things that once you start to pay attention to and understand, that's how you see light photographically. There's a, a very simple lighting setup that has been used to create some of the most beautiful and flattering portraits for well hundreds of years, even long before the camera was even thought of or invented, and it's called Rembrandt Lighting. It was named after the famous Dutch Renaissance Paint, Rembrandt, and it is easy to achieve. And it is beautiful. And it is timeless. Okay, so imagine this. You have a subject that is facing you in front of your camera, the light for the scene. You're in a dark room. The light comes from a window that is slightly above your subject and a little bit more in front of them than, directly off to the side. It's not hitting their ear. It's a little bit more in front. So that light coming in from the window. Directly illuminating the side of their face closest to the light. That's how light works. But in the far side of their face is mostly in shadow, except for a small triangle of light under the dark side of their face, under their eye, and under their cheek. It is just a tiny bit of light that spills over from that window that isn't being blocked from the nose and that triangle gives depth, it gives mood and it forms the face, and it will instantly make your portraits more interesting and artistic. You don't need studio strobes. You just need to find the right light and know how to position your subject. That's it. Rembrandt didn't have any studio lights. He didn't have any fancy lenses. He didn't even know what a camera was. It wouldn't even be invented for another 220 years. And yet his paintings hang in the world's best museums because of his ability to capture light and mood. That's what light can do for you. So strive to do the same with your images. Alright, core principle number five, and this one's my favorite. Photography is a way to see it's not just a skill. Photography teaches us many things. It teaches us mindfulness, it teaches us appreciation. It teaches us to be more creative. It's not just about the images, it's about how you experience the world. Here's a, a short story. Shortly after moving to Indiana, I moved to Indiana knowing that I was gonna get into weddings, but I needed a day job at first to pay the bills until I got the business off the ground. It took a while. And I worked this horrible plastics factory that was so incredibly hot and loud and smelled like hot plastic. Man, that first summer, experiencing the humidity of the Midwest and having to work inside of this place with I guess 15 plastic mold injection machines. Oh my gosh. It had to have been 120 plus in that building every single day. But I knew that I had to work that job so that I could afford to buy a camera. So every day I worked 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM every day. I took the same route to work, passing cornfields, passing old barns, passing farm equipment, just dreaming of the day that I was gonna get this camera so that I could start photographing the world. And I remember one morning the light was just, it was so stunning and it, it made you take notice. Maybe there was a, a rainstorm the night before, whatever, but the clouds were out and then the sun just peaked through the part in the clouds and it was like a spotlight on the earth. And right at that moment is when I drove by this open field that was probably about to be tilled to plant some more corn. It's a field that I had driven by, hundreds of times before this, and I had never really noticed it. It's just, just land, right? But there was something about that light that right then I pulled over and there was nobody else on the road. It was these rural back roads, country roads. And I got outta the car and I pulled out my iPhone four and I opened up the camera app and I took a photo and it was just a snapshot. I looked at that photo and I thought to myself, oh wait. This photo can be so much better. So what did I do? I took, I walked into that field. I took a few steps into the field. There was a big tractor out there. I got closer to the tractor. I took another photo, and it was better, right? The subject became larger in the frame. It was better. But I'm missing the thing that I loved so much about this photo, this moment rather, which was the sky, this beautiful sky. So I got the camera lower to make the tractor look larger and see more of the beautiful sky in the light hitting this tractor. I wanted that photo to reflect how I saw the world in that moment. Now I had to go back through my archives and find that photo to ensure that I could share it with you. It's actually the thumbnail for this episode. So if you're looking at the thumbnail of this episode and you see the tractor photo, that's the photo. And if you look at that photo, you're thinking this photo wouldn't win any awards. And you're right, but damn, if it didn't change something within me and how I see the world. Because it, it wasn't about being perfect. It wasn't about perfect settings. I couldn't change any of the settings on my iPhone. It wasn't about shooting with the newest camera. It was about learning to see what had always been there. And that is what photography does. It slows you down. It teaches you to look again, it teaches you to see the world. I mean, really see the world and not just pass through it. All you watch is doom and gloom news. You're gonna look at the world through a lens of everything is doom and gloom. People have bad intentions. The world is a bad place. And on the opposite side, if all you watch was just good, happy, happy every time, fun time, everything news, then that's how you would look at the world. This isn't about news, but when you look at the world through an actual lens, through photography, you start to see the world photographically. And when I look out at the world, I don't think, oh, this would be great at F eight. And one, two 50th of a second and I, so you know, 400. I look at the world and say, look at that light. What a beautiful moment. Look at that laugh because photography is a way to see, it's not just a skill to know what the numbers mean, and it's that skill and that awareness that grows within you, and that's what makes photography so much more than just taking pictures. Oh man, I could talk about this all day. But then it can, it can be less, practical and more cerebral. So that's all I'm gonna share with you today about that. I really want you to start to see photography as a way to see the world and not just learning the tool in your hand. Okay? Core principle number six is that you must share your work. Your photos are meant to be seen. It's fear of judgment that is holding you back. I know that because that's what holds me back from sharing photos, but sharing even imperfect work can build your confidence. It can attract feedback and it will lead to growth. A few years ago, our family got to spend, an extended amount of time on vacation, in California near the beach. And it was one of those like once in a lifetime trips, you know that this isn't gonna be like an every year type of thing. And one day our family was at the beach and my son is just digging in the sand to see how deep he could get. And my daughter was running along the beach, like right as the waves were like crashing and they were right on her feet and she was like giggling. And it was warm and the ocean was beautiful. And it was one of those moments that as a parent you kind of just want to live in forever. And I had my camera with me of course, but for a second before I took a photo, I kind of hesitated, like before I reached for that camera, I hesitated There was kind of this, you know, the angel and the devil on your shoulders that was like, should I even be taking this photo? Like, shouldn't I just stay right here and be present with my family? And I don't think that anybody would fault me for, for either. It's not like taking a photo takes a long time, or, The kids were kind of in their own head space doing their own thing, and I was in my head own head space and just watching this and enjoying it. So I did take a photo and again, that photo's not gonna win any awards. I would say that it's probably more of a snapshot than one with intention, although I did intentionally wait for a right moment so that the composition would be better. So maybe it's not just a snapshot, but regardless, when I look back at my time spent there and I think of all the photos that I took and how, like, yeah. Okay. I could have put away the camera and been more fully present with my family and not take any photos I could have. And would it change anything? I don't know. I mean, we still got to experience the trip together, but a few weeks ago, my son had asked me, he's like, Hey, do you remember that day in Laguna Beach when I dug that super deep hole? And I was like, well, he does that at every beach. So I wouldn't necessarily say that him saying that stood out to me. He was like, oh, yeah, he only did that once. But what I did was we came over to my computer. We sat down to look through all the photos that I took, and almost immediately he pointed at the screen to a photo that I took on a different day, on a day where we went on like this long hike. I mean, my daughter, I think was five, maybe she was six at the time, and it was just too long of a walk for her. Like, we shouldn't have done it, but we did it anyway. And my son had yelled, oh, I forgot about that. That was so amazing. We had such a beautiful view at the top. And then like, it hit me like, something within me changed. Like I understood for a moment, like, oh, wait a second. While yes, I shoot for myself. I'm not shooting specifically to share it with others. Photography, isn't something that I do just for the praise of others. I shoot for myself to enjoy the images that I take, right? But photography isn't only about capturing the moments for ourselves. Sure, I took the photo for myself, but an image of photo now creates connection. Yes. That photo helped me to process the feeling that I had in that moment, of this hike that we were taking. But it allowed my son to relive his own story of that day in his life, one where his little legs were tired, one where we saw a snake that day. In fact, I just remembered that we saw a snake, even though I did not get a photo of it. And it's a day where we saw the most amazing view of the ocean from the top. And if you are your family's photographer, you will understand this. We have all the images. We catalog them, we know where they all are. The good, the ones that we hope no one ever sees because, somebody would say, wait, are you sure you're a photographer? Which hurts, but seriously, but sometimes our own family doesn't get to appreciate them. Like they should be appreciated because we are the keepers of the photos. So we just kind of keep'em on our computer where we know that they're gonna be safe. But that doesn't allow our family to see these photos. And almost never is, is the memory that sparked the connection back to that moment directly tied to the technical perfection of that image when they see it, My son didn't see that photo and be like, wait, that's not precisely how I remembered it. I remember it being a brighter day. I remember my whole view was closer to the ground, you know, whatever. It's never tied to the technicals or the perfection of the image. Sharing those images. Even the messy, even the imperfect, even the unfinished photos is, it's how you find your voice. You gotta be vulnerable. It's how you inspire others. It's how you create meaning within a frame. Brené Brown has this, quote that says, in order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen. Sometimes we take bad photos in beautiful locations. Our culmination of images should not just be the ones that are technically perfect. There's another quote from Austin Cleon He has a book, called Show Your Work, at very Aply titled book, and in it there's a quote that says You cannot find your voice if you don't use it. Sharing your work is how you use your voice. Your camera is the tool that you use to voice how you see the world. Sharing your image is how you share your voice. Getting feedback, hearing from others, even just objectively looking at at it later. You know yourself is how you then find that voice. But to find your voice, you have to use it. And to use it is allowing ourselves to be seen, really seen. So there you go. it's these principles that I've shared today that make photography less intimidating and make photography just so much more enjoyable while still fostering that technical growth. Right? You need to learn how to use the camera, but that's not the only thing. So whether you're picking up the camera for the first time, or you are refining your skills, it's these core ideas that will guide your journey towards capturing meaningful and beautiful images. So let's do a quick recap. Core principle number one, moment matters more than settings. Core principle number two, the best camera is the one that you will use. Core principle number three, don't worry about raw. Core principle number four, lighting matters more than your camera gear. Core principle number five. Photography is a way to see it's not just a skill. In core principle number six, you must share your work because photography is meant to be seen. I hope that these core principles gave you a fresh way to think about your photography, and more importantly, I really hope that it inspired you to actually get out and shoot. But before you go, I wanna leave you again with something, that is going to keep the momentum going. And it's that free one page guide that I created called Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Pressing the Shutter. It's short, but super valuable. It is designed to help you slow down. It is designed to help you shoot with more intention. It is designed to help you capture photos that actually mean something. Whether you're photographing your kids a landscape or just those everyday moments, this checklist is gonna help you focus on what really matters to you. So again, head over to beginner photo Pod slash five Qs five Qs to download your free copy right now, or just click the link in the show notes. That is it for today. Until next time, remember, the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer you'll be tomorrow. Talk soon.