Mistakes to Mastery
Practice makes perfect…
Mistakes have a bad reputation among creatives. Some of us avoid them, some deny them, and others fear them. We connect the idea of making mistakes with our own creative ability, and even sometimes our self worth. There is a commonly held belief that once we become the master of a skill that mistakes are something that will fade into the background of our experience, and we will feel differently about our work, we will be more productive, and that a lack of mistakes will result in full creative freedom. As much as sometimes this may seem like a beautiful dream waiting ahead of you on your creative path, this is simply not the case. However, mistakes can be enjoyable, helpful, and also show you the way to true creative freedom. Despite many common beliefs around mistakes, these are nothing more than myth and in this post I will show you why.
Mistakes to Mastery
For some time now I have sat on many of these portraits from one particularly eventful summer’s day. It was a beautiful day in February when the weather was beautiful and the roses were in bloom at the Parnell Gardens. I had a great outfit and cute makeup look that I knew would contrast well with the colours of the gardens and with excitement I attempted to create this vision I had for a lush garden atmosphere on a summer’s afternoon. But it was not to be, and instead of creating the soft glowing feel I was after I realised soon after arriving that I had already encountered a number of problems. Firstly the sun was in the wrong place for the type of look I wanted to achieve, the garden beds were bare and unattractive, and amongst all the scenery and business my makeup and the feature of the images was lost and forgotten.
My First Attempt | Basic and Boring
For my first attempt, I tried to utilise the direct light from the sun during a cloudy patch of the day. This required ample amounts of patience for the right light, and the results were very average. It included the scenery I wanted, roses, the trees, and the gardens, but it lacked the vivid colour of the roses, and the garden beds took up much of the full shot resulting in a basic and straight forward, but ultimately boring image. [Technically lacked mistakes but was separate to how I FELT about the image]
I wanted more je ne said quo, I wanted more colour, more of a romantic atmosphere, the feeling of a summer’s day and ultimately I wanted the makeup to be seen.
My Second Attempt | Afternoon Glow
I reflected on my first attempt and decided to utilise the roses to shoot through and between, to emphasise more colour and also cover areas of the garden beds I previously found to be very unappealing. The strong backlight from behind me while I stayed within shadow meant a warmer background and a resulting afternoon glow behind me. Although I like this aesthetic, the bounce light from the grass and the strong sunlight behind me meant a compromise of my skin tones and a loss of clarity for the makeup. Due to a lack of planning, and strict requirements I had given myself for the backdrop, every single box could not be ticked. It was time to execute my final plan. [No more productive, spent ages photographing with only slightly better results than the first time]
My Third Attempt | Focused Finale
Sometimes, simplifying your focus is the way to go. Less is often more and in this case I realised that with the time constraints, and my options running out I decided to wait until dusk when the light was soft, lie down and photograph a portrait with the focus on the makeup itself, using my pose to frame it. I opted for a more unusual angle, and experimented with this pose while keeping the cropping tight and the results were fantastic. [Third attempt and the earlier mistakes shaped this beautiful result, not prevented it]
As they say, if at first you don’t succeed: Try, and try again. Creativity and also be about problem solving, so here are my top three tips for making mistakes work for you:
Create a specific goal you want to achieve - with the project, around one main focus. In this case I started with the gardens and realised through trial and error that my focus was in fact the makeup. Just in time for the last evening light!
Ask Questions - It’s important to understand why you don’t like something, and not just what you dislike. Initially my issue was that I knew I wanted more colour, and I knew I wanted a softer feel. During my second attempt I struggled to identify what was truly lacking from the image. Giving some thought to this, being patient with yourself and having faith that you will figure it out will help you work through this stage.
Create Change - Add and Remove Elements to experiment fully and discover the potential of your project. Sometimes by forcing yourself to remove or add certain things that may or may not work, you will see an option that wasn’t available to you before.
Final portrait of this Valentines Makeup Look over on my Instagram @thewardrobe.co.nz
Love my images? If you'd like to get in touch regarding photography, please contact me on my business website:
THE UNDEFINED PHOTOGRAPHY
Based in Christchurch, New Zealand.
