Photography Without the Need for Approval

Have you ever taken a photograph you really liked, only to show it to someone else and suddenly question your own opinion?

I think most photographers have experienced this. We enjoy making photographs, learning new techniques, experimenting with different lenses, and finding our own creative style. However, somewhere along the way, photography can become less about creating and more about getting approval from other people.

Are We Looking for Feedback or Validation?

There is nothing wrong with wanting people to like our photographs. It feels good when someone appreciates our work, and constructive criticism can help us grow. However, feedback and validation are not the same thing.

Feedback gives us something to consider. Validation can become something we need.

Photography gives us plenty of ways to measure ourselves. We can count followers, likes, awards, exhibitions, and publications. We can compare ourselves with other photographers and wonder why their work seems to get more attention than ours.

Yet photography doesn’t have to become another competition.

Remember Why You Picked Up the Camera

One question has been especially meaningful to me: If nobody ever saw your photographs, would you still take them?

That question gets to the heart of why we photograph.

We cannot control whether a judge selects our photograph, whether someone clicks the Like button, or whether another photographer understands what we were trying to create. We can, however, control whether we continue learning, experimenting, and enjoying the process.

After years of jobs, performance reviews, goals, and other people measuring our success, retirement gives us an opportunity to create simply because we enjoy it.

So perhaps instead of asking, “Am I a good photographer?” we should ask, “Do I enjoy being a photographer?”

If you can look at one of your photographs and say, “I don’t know if anybody else will like this, but I sure do,” maybe that’s enough.