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The Photography Project: My Descent Into Madness

My visual descent into a kind of soft-lit madness.

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

So, I decided to learn photography.

I know you nev­er asked, but here’s my pro­gress (in chro­no­lo­gic­al order):

  • Taking pic­tures of wifey while she’s pos­ing for Instagram.
  • Becoming com­fort­able with tak­ing pic­tures in public.
  • Taking iPhone pic­tures like I’m Picasso of digit­al pho­to­graphy or something.
  • Starting to fol­low real pho­to­graph­ers on Instagram.
  • Realising that I’m a shit photographer.
  • Asking wifey to teach me how to take bet­ter pho­tos, but her explan­a­tions con­fuse me.
  • Borrowing my wife’s Canon 70D.
  • Failing to under­stand “Manual Mode.”
  • Watching YouTube tutori­als on shut­ter speed and aper­ture only to become more confused.
  • Returning to iPhone pho­to­graphy by get­ting a new­er mod­el with “an excel­lent camera.”
  • The iPhone cam­era has a mind of its own, and I real­ise I’m some­how des­troy­ing my pic­tures when edit­ing them.
  • Watching YouTube videos on editing.
  • Realising that I’m shit at edit­ing, too.
  • Trying many apps only to real­ise that most are mar­gin­ally bet­ter than Instagram’s nat­ive tools.
  • Becoming frus­trated and almost giv­ing up.
  • Deciding to become a good pho­to­graph­er — whatever it takes.
  • Trying Adobe Lightroom CC, and my mind is blown.
  • Spending 100+ hours watch­ing Lightroom CC tutori­als on YouTube.
  • Realising that I need to be tak­ing high-qual­ity RAW photos. 
  • Going back to my wife’s Canon 70D.
  • Remembering that I’m shit at tak­ing photos.
  • Putting in 150+ hours in the field just tak­ing lots of photos.
  • After 4,000+ pic­tures, I start get­ting the hang of “Manual Mode.”
  • And look at me dodging and burn­ing in Photoshop!
  • Getting more likes on Instagram.
  • Looking at real pho­to­graph­ers’ work on Instagram and real­ising that I’m still shit.
  • Focusing (no pun inten­ded) on composition.
  • Realising that I know jack shit about sub­jects, lead­ing lines, bal­ance, rule of thirds, neg­at­ive space, sep­ar­a­tion, etc.
  • Finding even bet­ter pho­to­graph­ers on Instagram. Thinking of giv­ing up.
  • Taking a good pic­ture by chance, woohoo!
  • Getting my first full-format DSLR (Canon 5D MKII). 
  • Talking about the import­ance of “paint­ing with light.”
  • Feeling a mad pas­sion tak­ing over my life.

And here we are. Work in pro­gress, mind you. 


Please sup­port my blog by shar­ing it with oth­er PR- and com­mu­nic­a­tion pro­fes­sion­als. For ques­tions or PR sup­port, con­tact me via jerry@​spinfactory.​com.

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Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at KIX Index and Spin Factory. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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