Recording the latest episode of The Circle of Confusion, my co-presenter Peter Cox made an interesting remark. Having recently gained his Qualified European Photographer (QEP) qualification, he is now plotting his Fellowship with the Irish Professional Photographers Association (IPPA). He commented that he doesn’t yet feel he has a panel that is up to his standard.
That raises an interesting question. Who is the best person to judge how good you are and what level you’ve reached in your career?
A – Other professional photographers?
B – You yourself?
C – Your clients?
There is a case to be made for all three.
To me the most interesting one is the case that can be made for B.
While the recognition of your peers is nice to get, as is the appreciation of your paying customers, both of those can be a trap. They can lead you to complacency. That’s dangerous. Complacency kills creativity, and stymies development. That’s something you can’t allow as a professional photographer.
The only person who can guard against that is you, the photographer.
For me, this takes the form of a little voice at the back of my head – he’s a bit like a disapproving grandparent. He only ever says one thing: “You should have done better.” I’m glad he’s there. Otherwise, I’d be well on my way to complacency and irrelevance. I’m my own hardest taskmaster. I’m never satisfied. I hope I never am.
