The Decisive Moment

I’ve been a semi-professional photographer for some time now and without blowing my own trumpet too much, I think I could be described as a decent photographer who occasionally achieves exceptional results. Without being too self deprecating, I believe the occasionally exceptional results have come about more through luck than judgement. This is something I would like to change.
Generally speaking I would have to say that the development of my photographic skills has been pretty steady. I have seen improvement from one shoot to the next and every now and again I have had a Eureka moment where my skills seem to take a massive leap upwards. Recently however this development seems to have stopped. My photography skills seem to have reached a plateau. I’ve reached a certain level of attainment that I just can’t seem to improve upon. This isn’t to say I’ve mastered the art, far from it. It’s just that I’ve reached a level that I don’t think I can improve upon without some help.

I think this has come about because I’m self taught. I’ve learnt through experimentation, reading books and magazines, researching on the internet and seeking advice from other photographers. At no point have I had any structured tuition. It’s true that many photographers have learnt this way and they’re doing just fine but I think that somehow I’ve just managed to miss out some of the essentials. I feel I’m lacking a solid foundation in the basic principals of photography and it’s this that has caused a stunting of my development.

I’ve decided to do something about it. I’ve signed up to do an AS level in photography at the local college. With a bit of luck I hope this will fill in the gaps and get me back on track again.

I’m going to attempt to chronicle each of my lessons / lectures (I wonder what they call them nowadays?) here on The Decisive Moment. Hopefully they’ll be good reading.

Have any of you experienced reaching a plateau? If so how did you get yourself going again?