A common expression among professional photographers is, “Everyone is a photographer until you turn the dial from AUTO to MANUAL.” Why wouldn’t one be a great photographer after spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a camera with the latest technological advancements in capturing images and only having to “point and shoot”? 

During my college years, I tried my hand at photography, and being that was during the film days, I was overwhelmed with learning. My photos were horrible: blown out or too dark. I became frustrated trying to figure out shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. So, I stayed in that AUTO mode…because it was easy.

In 2018, standout high school athlete Gerald Hodges joined his school’s swim team. He didn’t even know how to swim. Hodges told On The Road journalist Steve Hartman, “If I couldn’t handle not being good at something, then how could I consider myself a successful person?”

I know I didn’t have that maturity in high school, nor in college. But what if I had? I wouldn’t have looked at taking shortcuts to getting a degree on a more simplified path, because I just wanted it to be done as easily as possible.

I wasn’t challenging myself.

About six years ago, I took the expensive digital camera we bought to start getting better photos of our children and turned the dial from AUTO to MANUAL and struggled…again. Each day I tried to get a little better. Today, my wife and I have a successful photography business- not so much in financial terms, but in our work within the community.  Although, when I look back at my earliest photos, I cringe. I see the difference moving the dial has made, the difference in not taking the easy route, or just quitting it altogether. 

What did you do when you fell off of a bike the first time you were learning to ride? What if you would have quit? Thomas Edison failed at inventing the lightbulb over 1,000 times. Becoming better than average means doing difficult things. It means changing your mindset from “I can’t” to “I can’t YET.” 

I have a poster in my classroom that states, “I’m not telling you it is going to be easy. I’m telling you it is going to be worth it.” I refer to this with my own children when they become frustrated at soccer, art, or schoolwork. 

Ask any professional, it could be an athlete, chef, CEO, artist, etc how they got to where they are, and I am willing to bet they will say it wasn’t taking the easy way. They didn’t skip practices. They didn’t surrender to failure.

Even though I have spent many years working to get better at photography, I know I can continue to improve. It isn’t easy. I don’t want it to be. I find new challenges within the field to make me uncomfortable. I use that motivation to  move every dial in my life from AUTO to MANUAL.