Achieving mastery of a craft takes lots of time and patience. Photography's most devoted practitioners pursue the elusive status of mastery one shoot at a time, one shot at a time, over many years. It’s not easy.
This article is an effort to break down the complexities of mastering photography, in hopes of providing those in the early stages of professional photography a solid foundation of what to expect. And even if you're an experienced photographer, you can bookmark this article to send to aspiring photographers who will inevitably approach you for help.
Questions from newcomers often focus on equipment. This article considers gear, but focuses elsewhere. It stresses the importance, especially in the early stages of serious photography, of learning skills over acquiring gear.
To properly understand just how intricate the craft of photography is, let’s first look at its development over the past two centuries.