This feeling is predictable and it has very little to do with photography. It goes on: “I’ve already taken all my best shots. I might as well quit now. What’s the point of going out trying to get more photos? My photos aren’t that good anyway. And even if I do take good photos, why? Does anyone care? I’m not saving any lives, or improving anyone’s living conditions.”<\/p>\n
In the morning light, my brain isn’t as critical as in the dead of night. I start developing some photos I missed from a trip last year, and I actually start to like them. I realize maybe I’m not horrible. But even on good days, the negatives linger in the back of my mind, waiting for their chance to work their way into my thoughts.<\/p>\n
I think this is something a lot of people struggle with – regardless of their profession or hobby. Ignoring the negative thoughts sometimes works for a bit, just so I can be productive, but the problem is that they have an edge of truth. So then I have to take a step back, try to be objective, and decide whether I’m on the right track. Find the things that are good and true and believable.<\/p>\n
I think adding to the beauty of the world is important, and I have the ability to do that. I might even be able to pique interest in the world around us. I think a sense of wonder and curiosity can make life immeasurably better. And even though this isn’t necessarily saving any lives, I think it adds to the net good of the world. And I’m satisfied with that.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n
A cedar forest in Pacific Rim National Park.
\n12mm, f4, 1\/40 of a second<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This feeling is predictable and it has very little to do with photography. It goes on: “I’ve already taken all my best shots. I might as well quit now. What’s the point of going out trying to get more photos? My photos aren’t that good anyway. And even if I do take good photos, why? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,87],"tags":[977,2749,2426,2747,2754,616,235,1673,2748,2753,1600,2750,2751,862,2746,920,2752,1924,487],"class_list":["post-2484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forest-2","category-photo-of-the-day","tag-beauty","tag-best-shots","tag-brain","tag-cedar-forest","tag-curiosity","tag-edge","tag-feeling","tag-good-photos","tag-living-conditions","tag-mind","tag-morning-light","tag-negative-thoughts","tag-net-good","tag-night","tag-pacific-rim-national-park","tag-psychology","tag-right-track","tag-thought","tag-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2484"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2488,"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484\/revisions\/2488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joelkoop.com\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}