Take Your Ego Out of It
A few nights ago, I went to a meet and greet event for professional photographers. I’m naturally introverted. I hate meeting people and I hate meeting groups of people worst of all. I almost turned around and went home six times before asking one of the members if I was in the right place.
I did go though, and stayed for just under two hours. Enough time to get an idea of what their organization offers and the general demographic of its members. Enough time to see if their group currently made sense for me.
After shaking hands with over a dozen people and hearing names that my brain is, frankly, incapable of retaining, I discovered I was probably the least professional person there. This isn’t me saying I don’t belong or anything similar. It’s just a statement of fact. Many of these people had really impressive careers and almost all of them were much older than me.
One of those people was Jerry.
I was literally on my way out the door when he struck up a conversation.
At some point in our exchange, he asked me if I used Back Button Autofocus. If you’re wondering, that’s a feature on cameras where a button close to your thumb is used to focus your lens, as opposed to the main focus, which exists as part of the camera’s shutter button, by your index finger.
My initial response was yes, as I think I had played with it a bit at some point or another. But his question was did I use the BBF, not if I knew what it was. To which I had to answer “I guess I don’t.”
The truth is that I knew what BBAF was, but I never really understood the reason for using it. Jerry explained that separating the autofocus from the shutter made shooting more direct and quicker. When you use the shutter to autofocus, there are times wherein you may miss shots because your AF is hunting. Using BBF means whatever you’re focused on, your shutter will hit. There are other reasons as well, but the main point is that I wasn’t using a key feature on my camera.
To be frank, that’s embarrassing.
Jerry could tell that he had accidentally made me feel self-conscious and tried to reassure me. Which is kind, but unnecessary. In the past, I have stated that my goal is to become a master photographer. It still is.
You don’t get to the brass ring by acting like you’re the best. If you want to actually be one of the best, you have to take your ego out of it. If a 15 year old who just picked up a camera last year happens to know something I don’t, I should listen. Now Jerry doesn’t fall under that category, but it doesn’t matter.
No one likes to be humiliated. I’ve experienced it more than my fair share. But pride is a rock that holds back greatness. If I want to reach my goals, I’m going to have to get on my knees from time to time.
#pride #humility #humble #ego #photographylesson #sonyalpha
