On the Path to Being a Great Photographer? There’s Something You Should Know

All great photographers in the past and present have had creativity at their core. There are proven links between personality traits and creativity. Therefore, modifying your actions can improve your photography.

We often concentrate on the technical skills we need as photographers. Indeed, that is an important aspect. However, psychologists have identified traits and behaviors that creative people commonly exhibit, and we can learn from them.

Experience New Things

Where I live has a high proportion of artists. All of them are open to experimentation and are open to exploring the unfamiliar. Many have travelled, not on sausage-machine package holidays, but have engaged with different cultures. Well over half of them have moved here from other parts of the country.

They seek possibilities rather than absolutes and are comfortable discovering things that are unfamiliar to them.

The same applies to photographers. For example, if you describe yourself as a landscape photographer, you can extend your creativity by exploring wildlife, textures, or minute details. Novice photographers, full of enthusiasm, will often explore different genres, finding how they overlap.

If we ever lose our drive to take photos of the same things, we can reinvigorate our zest by trying to photograph different things that are outside our usual realm.

Improving and bettering themselves is undoubtedly the aim of everyone who picks up a camera. Successful photographers, like all artists, engage in lifelong learning. They pursue knowledge across a diverse range of fields, extending beyond their area of expertise.

What a Day for a Daydream

When I was a child, I would get chastised by my schoolteachers for daydreaming. Staring out of the window and distancing my thoughts from the mundane lessons helped relieve the boredom. These days, daydreaming is seen more positively as a form of mental exercise that fosters innovation. Einstein, Newton, Dali, Lewis Caroll, Emily Dickinson, and a host of others all got inspiration from daydreaming.

Far from being seen as idleness, daydreaming is understood to be a form of mental play that fosters innovation. Creativity often involves sudden insights that occur during daydreaming. Thus, new ideas for approaching photography can emerge from a state of semi-awareness.

The most creative individuals often show patterns of brain connectivity different from neurotypical people, particularly so in the default mode network (DMN), which is active during introspection and imagination, when you are not focused on the outside world. That part of the brain is activated when you are resting quietly without a task. Brain scans have shown that it is active during meditation and reflection, as well as when imagining, contemplating, reminiscing, and being creative.

Related to daydreaming is the state of hypnagogia. That’s the transitional phase between wakefulness and sleep, which can spark new ideas. Keeping a pen and paper beside you so you can jot down the thoughts that arise from your subconscious mind can be beneficial, as daydreams, like their nighttime counterparts, can quickly fade away.

Treat Nature as Your True Love

I often extol the virtues of photography because of its benefits for mental health. It keeps us moving. Moreover, it’s creative, thus giving us a feeling of success. Photography is a mindful exercise that requires our minds to concentrate on the creative task, free from the distractions of negative thoughts. We might even enter a state of flow. It’s a social exercise too; while photographing, people will come to talk (although for me it always seems as though it is just as the sun is appearing over the horizon, or the bird I am wanting to photograph is close by). But, most importantly, it can get us outdoors and into nature.

Being in the countryside, surrounded by trees in a forest, or at a deserted beach, not only improves one’s state of mind but can stimulate and foster innovation, flexible thinking, and curiosity.

The Contradictions of Creative People

The late eminent Hungarian American Scientist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934-2021), was a pioneer in creativity research. He noted that creative people often embody paradoxes in their personalities.

1. Creative individuals often possess high levels of physical energy, yet they also value stillness and quiet reflection. Photographers are frequently physically active. They get up early to chase the light, maybe climbing for the perfect angle. But they can also spend hours in quiet contemplation, waiting for the right moment to arrive.
2. They tend to be intellectually sharp while maintaining a sense of childlike wonder. Needing technical knowledge (camera settings, lighting, composition), photographers also benefit from seeing the world in a way most people don’t.
3. They balance playfulness with discipline and can be both responsible and carefree. Photography involves spontaneous creativity. However, it also requires methodical planning.
4. Their minds shift between vivid imagination and a grounded awareness of reality.
5. They exhibit traits of both introversion and extroversion, depending on the moment.
6. They are modest about their abilities, yet confident in their creative vision.
7. They often transcend traditional gender roles, embracing a more fluid sense of identity.
8. They can be both unconventional and respectful of tradition.
9. They are deeply passionate about their craft, yet capable of viewing it with apparent objectivity.
10. Their emotional openness makes them vulnerable to pain, but it also allows for profound joy and fulfilment.

If you don’t recognise yourself in those, the good news is that they can be learned and cultivated. Creativity isn’t just a mysterious gift. Instead, it’s a process that can be understood, nurtured, and transmitted through learning.

The Benefits of Deep Inter-Cultural Experiences

In his work on creativity, Csikszentmihalyi found that creativity thrives when individuals are exposed to and engaged with varied environments and viewpoints. Meanwhile, other scientists expanded this. William W. Maddux, formerly at the prestigious international school, INSEAD, along with Adam Galinsky from Northwestern (now Columbia) University, found that deep intercultural relationships can boost creativity through exposure to diverse perspectives. Furthermore, they found that adapting to new cultures helps people develop cognitive flexibility and problem-solving.

They pointed out that the benefits didn’t come from just travelling to a different country, but from living there, embedding oneself in an ethnic community different from one’s own.

Why Internet Trolls are Always Failures

There’s proof for all the above in the opposite behaviour of internet trolls.

There are people out there whose actions fall short of what we expect from a reasonable human. The internet, especially photography discussion forums, seems to be rife with them. Their negative and often spiteful comments are indicative of the very opposite personalities that creative people exhibit. These days, the nastiness of internet trolls is widely recognised and derided. Consequently, their attempts at humiliating others just reflect poorly on themselves and not on their victims. Moreover, many hide behind fake personas because they are ashamed of themselves and are unwilling to reveal their lack of talent.

Have you ever come across a troll whose art is any good? I haven’t.

Pass on Your Knowledge and Collaborate

Unlike those who want to knock others down, many of the best creative people are supportive. They take on the roles of mentors and educators. Some write books or create online content to help others succeed. They selflessly share their knowledge, techniques, and insights, especially with younger or emerging artists. Moreover, they find delight in helping others succeed.

Imagine one of those you help goes on to international success. When your name appears in their biography as their inspiration, that greatness will rub off on you.

Creatives also collaborate with other artists, exchanging ideas and perspectives, so they both learn and teach each other.

Pick any great photographer, read their biography, or search the internet looking for who mentored or influenced them, who they in turn inspired, and who they collaborated with. You will find that, in almost every case, those factors are a major part of their lives.

Will You Be Great?

In Photography, like in any creative field, there are only a few photographers who will go down in history as being considered great on a worldwide scale. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t all continue to strive for greatness. Recognising your constant improvement, the joy of the creative process, and the stimulation from learning are all rewards worth pursuing.

Emulating the traits and practising the behaviors of creative people will help you along the path that we are all walking.