Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

Gordon · **The Myth of Talent -** 11-14-2005, 04:24 PM

Well worth a read

http://www.radiantvista.com/articles/index.php

brad · 11-14-2005, 05:33 PM

Yea, someone posted this in another thread, but I think it deserves its own thread. Its a very good read.

Champuu · 11-14-2005, 09:41 PM

Thank you for sharing, The Myth of Talent. I am a newbie and it was nice to read something encouraging on the subject.

jeffkohn · 11-14-2005, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Champuu

Thank you for sharing, The Myth of Talent. I am a newbie and it was nice to read something encouraging on the subject.

Yeah I know how you feel. I can certainly relate to experience of building up a trip or other photo outing and getting all excited about the awesome pictures I just knew I was going to take, only to get home and be extremely disappointed in the results, as I'm sure most of us can. But IMHO the trick is to keep at it, practicing and learning. I may still have a long way to go but when I look at my recent work compared to when I was first starting out I can definitely see there's been some improvement. And hey, I'm having fun in the process and that's what it's really all about, right?

I sometimes hear people say that artistic talent is something you either have or don't have, as if it's absolute with no in-betweens. But I tend to agree with the viewpoint from the article that creative endeavours are much like any other; success has as much to do with hard work and dedication as it does absolute potential/talent. I mean sure, I may never be anywhere near as good as the "great" photographers but that doesn't mean I shouldn't bother trying to do my best. Just like someone who will never be as good as Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods can still have fun playing basketball/golf, and even get pretty darn good if they keep at it.

evil4blue · 11-14-2005, 10:15 PM

I read this article on its first pass in the open forum and totally agree with its sentiment. I do believe that some are born with extrodinary talent and a photographers eye, but with practice anyone can get better.

I, personally, spend a good deal of time studying and reading about technique and unleashing ones creativity. Unfortunately, I feel like I read more than shoot sometimes, but I feel more comfortable being well read in a subject I'm trying to master.

Edit:

I'm going to sticky this thread because I think its a great article that everyone should have a chance to read.

mwhigham · 02-14-2006, 08:12 AM

Thank you for posting that. What an excellent and inspiring article. Sometimes I look at the work of other photographers and become disillusioned with my shots. It is helpful to look at some of my early shots and compare them with current ones to see that improvements are indeed being made. I'm certainly on the path, not at the destination.

provodnik · **Either you have it or you don't myth -** 03-25-2006, 05:35 PM

The article was great. Even though the author did not make the final conclusion as to what the difference is or what it means to be talented and to be ordinary, the article itself explained it well. The difference between those who are talented (gifted) and those who are not is that those who are not talented have to work harder. It's just like learning a foreign language. Those who have a so called ear (talent, gift, whatever you want to call it) just pick it up with no visible effort. Those who have no talent simply have to practice, practice, and practice. It is probably true that those of us who are more technical by our nature may not produce photographs comaprable to those of some big name photographers. But patience and perseverance WILL produce good results, often outstanding results. Not everyone if born Albert Einstein but everyone can become A. Pavlov.

vuilang · 04-12-2006, 02:24 PM

Thanks Gordon.... it's indeed well worth to read..

Michelle Allmon · 07-18-2006, 01:45 AM

Thank you.

Wes · 12-29-2006, 12:53 PM

This is one of the most awesome articles I have ever read. Thanks for posting it.

metagore · 08:54 PM

This is the right article at the right time for me. As I begin to question the path that I've put myself on, this is the message I need to continue to pursue my goals.

The other thing that I would like to add to this is something I've heard within the last year, I think from Trump... "The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan." It is in this article, but not spelled out in such a simplistic statement.

This inspires me to stick to the plan and keep marching forward.

kenw · 12-31-2006, 06:00 PM

Perhaps Talent has a prerequisite of Desire. Without Desire, any modicum of Talent is overlooked or lost. However as the article poiints out, Desire alone is likewise not sufficient. The Desire feeds the drive, the result of properly focused drive is Talent.

Some may call it elitist (live with it...) however we must not confuse a Developed Talent with a Nautural Talent. In the end, the differences may be semantic or even indistinguishable, but they are not the same. Science has proven too many times that Environment alone is not superior to Genetics. (as well as the reverse)

But forcing me to have a plan more complex than Practice, Practice, Practice sounds like work and I refuse to structure my joy as if it must conform to someone's HR policy.

Now if someone will just address the myth of "more expensive equipment makes you more talented..."

jeffkohn · 06:35 PM

Quote:

Some may call it elitist (live with it...) however we must not confuse a Developed Talent with a Nautural Talent. In the end, the differences may be semantic or even indistinguishable, but they are not the same. Science has proven too many times that Environment alone is not superior to Genetics. (as well as the reverse)

While true I think the point of the article is that everybody has at least some talent/potential for something like photography if they're willing to put the effort in; the number of people with absolutely no talent/potential is just as miniscule as the number of people with so much natural talent that they can ignore craft and practice and still be successful just on talent alone.

I guess what annoys me is that some self-proclaimed 'artists' seem to be of the opinion that the arts are unique from other disciplines. These are the people who think anybody could learn science or engineering if they wanted, but only the select few will ever be able to do what they do (produce art). IMHO this is BS. Some people may have more aptitude for math than others, while some may have more aptitude for drawing than others, but just about anybody can learn to do either if they apply themselves.

brad · 12-31-2006, 06:35 PM

I saw a quote today that I thought was inspiring.. and kinda fits this topic:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Twain

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.

Stephen H · 01-01-2007, 12:28 PM

Through the years, I have read and heard a lot of different ideas about how to be successful in one aspect or another of life. Most of these ideas simply fail to take into account the variations in people and conditions that occur in real life. The rich person seems to think it's easy to be rich, and wonders why everyone doesn't do it. The person with "perfect" kids thinks it's easy to raise your kids and wonders why everyone doesn't do a better job of it.

Case in point: The author quit his day job at the age of 27 to go tour the national parks. That's great- if you have some money saved up, have a vehicle, camping equipment, hiking gear, camera gear, and don't have any family or bills. Most of us probably don't fall into that category. So what seemed very easy and simple for the author is in fact simply not feasible for the majority of us.

Enthusiasm for photography or some other calling is great, and I'm all for it. But I think it's erroneous to assume that that is ALL it takes.