A photographer’s life cycle…

Having been into photography seriously for 6 years, and having seen a lot of photographers and my own life, I just thought I would pen down this simple trend I observed… Please don’t take it as my disrespect to any of the other photographers, coz as an anticipatory bail let me tell you I myself can identify a lot of this with my own growth (?) as a photographer…
Level 0- Blissfully Clueless
The earlier one gets out of this phase the better. This is that phase when you don’t know what a camera is for. Every time you see a beautiful landscape/ scenery you place yourselves or a relative or friend in the CENTER of the frame and shoot. When the film is developed you wonder why there is a shake, why the flash has cast a shadow on two of the three people’s face and why are the subjects silhouetted. You expect the camera to do everything! When you see a photographer on the ground trying to take an eye level, you mutter “crack case”…
And the only way you can be a drop out from this level of photography is by moving on to one of the levels above! In short, you cant quit from this level, you can only climb up!
Level 1 - I’ve got talent
It all starts when you get your hands on a point and shoot or a mobile camera that can do nothing but shoot what you have pointed it at, at best with a vague interpretation of “metering”. Ah, you may have those A, P, S, M (or Tv, Av) etched on the tiny dial at the top of the camera, which you think is part of the camera’s aesthetics. You shoot some badly overexposed flowers, blurred sunsets, badly composed butterflies, sea shore and anything with bright colors. Seeing the image, your poor parents and siblings and friends (who have no relationship with photography other than having seen press photographers of the 80s walk around in kurtas with a beard, specs, and a cloth shoulder bag or having seen photos in the local news-papers and who belong to the Level-0) say “Wow” for everything you shoot. And you keep spending your free time in the kitchen garden shooting insects and bugs pretending that you belong to the elite National geographic class, or roam the streets with a “Reuters” journalist air. You shoot bucketfuls and upload all of it in Orkut and get “Oh wow you are a genius” from friends.
You go to tourist places, see people with large cameras and wonder why they need such stuff when you can create ‘magic’ with your gear. And to prove a point, you stand next to them (probably shooting with a 500mm at a bird sitting miles away), flip out your camera with some real jazzy wrist moment, point it at the bird, click, give a smirk at the poor photographer and walk off … You submit entries to Nat geo magazine and photography contests and on rejection give up (not photography, but submission)saying that the guys are biased against people from your part of the world or that they are lousy judges of art. The only thing you gain from this phase is that you start loving the outdoors. And hell no- you don’t have a clue about aperture, shutter speed, rule of thirds and when you heard someone say “I bought an SLR” you think it is the BSA SLR cycle. You also think touching up images while processing is sacrilege. Technically speaking, this phase can be called as the “Unconscious competence” phase.
There is either an exit or progression from this level. Exit is when you grow bored of the hobby. Progression is when you realize where you actually stand.
Level 2- The revelation
This is when you get into the company of people who know better; through non-back scratching forums (where you get good honest advice than "nice one" comments expecting you to comment back) , through some sincere advice, and through some guy who knew better and who finally does a favor to you by letting you know that you are thinking too highly of yourselves. That is the moment of realization that erupts like a volcano in your brain, and believe me, it is the biggest blow to one’s ego. People react to this in multiple ways
1) I don’t care what you say. I am GOD, and I don’t believe in rules of composition or moving out of auto mode. I see art in this and if you don’t, I pity you.
Or
This was shot while the train was moving at 100kmphr and to discuss this photograph on light, composition and aesthetics is blasphemy.
2) My gear is not good enough, that is why you feel my photos are not up to the mark. I will upgrade!
3) Damn. I never thought this was so complex. Who wants photography anyway?
4) Hey, I didn’t know that! I should explore this.
(I remember, somebody once told me about the photography club at Infosys, when I was walking around with a 3mpx point and shoot and with an inflated ego 5 years back, I thought “Why do I want suggestions for improvement? My photos are good”. But I am glad I got over that phase real soon)
You may do a gear upgrade and still find degradation in the quality of your shots, as you don’t know the basics enough to handle the new gear well.
From this level also, there is exit, progression and stagnation. Group 1 and group 2 would remain, 3 would exit and 4 would progress to the next level!
Level 3- The learning curve
80% of what you know about photography is learnt in this phase. You are like a hungry caterpillar hogging before going into a pupa. The more time you spend here, the better. You read, try to incorporate it in your clicks, read more and suddenly you find a dramatic increase in the quality of your shots. You suddenly realize why all those clicks that got selected in Nat Geo and various other contests really scored ahead of you. You suddenly have newfound respect towards the guys whom you erstwhile thought to be smart-alecks. The pictures that you make start becoming technically perfect, and when you review your shots taken earlier, you are able to find thousands of mistakes. You still shoot bucketfuls, but you process 5-10% only and share in public just half of that. And you feel *good*.

Level 4- The stagnation
You keep switching between this and the learning curve. Occasionally the feeling comes that you have learned enough, and the caterpillar gets into the pupa – or a shell rather. You become impervious to inputs, you don’t see out of the box and you think you have learnt enough. It may be all that compliments you got getting into your head. You slowly become an smart aleck.
The one fine day you run into a phase where your shots are stereotypical. They all look the same, and you feel bored of them. The salvation comes through some kind of an inspiration- better gear, doing something different, or getting introduced to a different genre. And then you again go back to the caterpillar phase.

Level 5- Fine art
This is the phase where you decide you have done enough of “conventional” stuff and start making things that makes you happy. You are at your creative best here. Light falling on obscure things, minimalism, blur, patterns – you latch on to all these and end up with some shots that are brilliant. They may not be appreciated by all, but you have that warmth within which is all motivation you need to keep moving ahead.

Level 6- Overboard
This is an overdose of fine art… And to a lot of other people, it would just be fine art minus the ‘ine’. You are either too cocky to accept it or don’t care as you are beyond the point where you care for popularity. You see patterns, stories and creativity in areas others see only darkness. Almost like the “No country for old men” movie. Some love it, some hate it, and some say they love it to prove they are intellectual (remember the emperor's new clothes story?). All those modern art paintings which only intellectuals buy, paying millions are examples... Art is subjective, so finally, art lies in the eyes of the beholder!
Copyright Sandeep Somasekharan, 2010