The Rewards of a Daily Practice
There is little doubt that any skill you want to improve, particularly a creative skill like writing, drawing, or photography, benefits immensely from daily practice. The gains of daily repetition, even for short periods, vastly outweigh sporadic practice, even if it’s for a longer period of time—you'll gain more from 15 minutes a day than from a few hours once a week.
This may seem obvious (think about exercise) but very few photographers practice daily, preferring to wait until they're in a "proper" location or situation.
In the book “The Power of a Daily Practice,” Eric Maisel states,
“There is no single more important thing that a creative person can embark upon than creating and maintaining a daily creativity practice. That practice will likely make all the difference between having and not having a creative life. When nothing could feel more natural than that daily practice, you will become one of those very rare creatures, someone who virtually effortlessly produces a body of creative work.”
That's certainly been the case for me in my own struggles to improve and grow in my creative life. For example, when I don’t write for a while, it’s just harder to get my thoughts out in a coherent way that doesn’t feel forced. And similarly with photography, I’ve learned that maintaining a daily practice helps me see more clearly, more spontaneously, without the pressure to make “good” images.
And every once in a while I surprise myself with an unexpected image because I’m simply having fun with my curiosity. Such was the case with this image of “lamb’s ears” that I spotted in front of someone’s home while walking my dog in our neighborhood.
And luckily, I had my “best” camera with me, the iPhone 15 Pro, together with ProCamera, my favorite camera app that provides DSLR level controls for the iPhone. It’s a great tool for this very situation, and that’s why I encourage you to use your smartphone to practice daily, especially if you’re not always carrying your serious camera, which you probably aren’t.
Seeing and composing an image is a skill, one you can practice with any camera. You don’t need any of your serious camera’s features because they don’t matter. What matters is that you’re exercising your visual design skills, your awareness of light and shadow, your ability to notice an interesting arrangement of colors or shapes, or just simply a pleasing pattern.
You’ll get better at all of these the more you practice and review your results. Make the process of seeing and framing an image part of your day, every day. That will help you take advantage of the compounding improvement that happens over time, yet is almost impossible to notice from day to day.
And you'll surprise yourself when you are in that special location and the ideas seem to come a bit easier than they have in the past...that's the real reward of the investment you've made daily.
iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Camera app, edited in Lightroom Mobile
So true though I try not get lazy and use the
Iphone.
I still love looking for a view fiinder.
What can I say. I’m old school.
Thanks for your feedback, Ben, always appreciate it!
I know what you mean…however, we don’t always have our cameras with us, and in the end, it’s about “seeing,” so I think using what you have is much better than not practicing at all. The more I practice (with whatever camera) the better I will be with my old school gear 🙂
So good! Thank you for the encouragement.
Thanks for the feedback, you’re quite welcome!
Great suggestion, Robert! It is true that we keep postponing the daily practice you refer to. This reminded me of a great book I have read under the title “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield, which I must have heard through you again. Resistance is what Steven calls it and this is what happens in our daily life. We keep postponing things offering various excuses. So, if we really want to improve as photographers, this is the best way. Even with our mobile phone sometimes great images could come up! Thanks again for your invaluable help.
Hi Costas,
thanks for the feedback, and “The War of Art” is a great book I re-read every once in a while when I need to get past the resistance as well! Many good lessons…and any book by Seth Godin is also worth the read for anyone who wants to develop their creative confidence.
Hello Robert. Thank you for all the help and advice you offer to other photographers. Having recently added an iPhone15 to my kit, your suggestion and recommendation of ProCamera is very timely.
I too agree with taking pictures as often as possible to stretch our boundaries. In October 2004 a wonderful Scotsman, Joe Tree, created Blipfoto.com as a place for anyone to record one picture each day (https://www.blipfoto.com/community/history). I joined six years later and have been posting my images nearly everyday ever since. The site is dedicated to photography and those who create them, and nothing else. No advertising, free to those who can’t afford the small membership payment and treasured by its ‘Blippers’. I thought you would be interested to know about it. I can often be found at https://www.blipfoto.com/CleanSteve. See you at the next webinar, although sometimes it is too late in my day to watch in real time. I live in Stroud in the west of England.
Thanks for the feedback Steve, much appreciated! And thanks for sharing blipfoto.com, a great idea and very much in the mindset of what I talked about in the article. Love your photos, particularly all the birds – great way to start or end the day!