How To Measure Photographic Success

How do you define success? If you’re a photographer it might be a tricky question to answer. You could measure it by a Social Media following. You could measure it by print sales, you could even measure it by awards won. I’d suggest a different metric.

Photographers should measure success by the number of photoshoots a month.

There’s beauty in this metric. 

Firstly, it’s completely within your control. If you decide to simply bring your camera with you, then the entire day becomes a photoshoot.

Secondly, it (importantly) avoids measuring success by the number of keeper images taken in a month. I think that doing that is an incredibly toxic and mentally exhausting metric to measure yourself against. Because sometimes the keepers might not come.

It’s very possible to have a month go by and no matter what you try none of the images seem to stick. That is okay!

It will happen to you, and it has happened to me. However, when you just keep trucking and bring your camera with you wherever you go, when the creative spark strikes (and trust me it will) you’ll be ready.

Was June Successful?

Now, using the success criteria above you may ask was June 2023 successful for me? Yes, yes it was. 

Many days of the month I had a camera in my hand and was taking photographs (~14).

Furthermore, there were many days that I didn’t even take an image, but still had my camera on me! This is just as important to your photography as actually taking the image. By continually carrying the camera you begin to shift your headspace to one of someone who is always looking for what their next photograph could be.

The line between “photoshoot” and “non-photoshoot” will begin to blur and you’ll notice yourself seeing the world around you in a way that you may not have beforehand. How do I know this? 

It’s happened to me.

It can be hard, as there will be times that you might not have a camera on you – or you might not be at liberty to spend thirty minutes composing and shooting a sunset you may see.

But you will gain an appreciation for the beauty of the world around you that I think can be easily missed in an era of nigh-infinite streams of media vying for the most important thing you have – your attention.