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What do you mean, "my journey is not your journey?"


An interesting conversation came up with a member regarding the RAW versus JPEG article and a photographer's choice to shoot in one or the other format. To paraphrase the comment, "I really gave up on trying to 'convert' the JPEG shooters a long time ago. If someone shoots in JPEG and they are happy with their results, good for them, who are we to tell them any different. Lots of people create beautiful photo's using JPEG."

He further states that, "some photographers do use the images straight out of the camera and if they have a better eye than I do, their photographs will have much more interest in them than one of my perfectly post processed raw shots with a lousy composition."

I agree with his comments. I just point out the benefits of shooting in one format over the other. If your goal is to be a casual shooter, JPEG quality may be right for you. If your goal is to be a pro you need to step your game up and that means understanding the ins and outs of shooting in either format and then using them accordingly. However, I don't think the true point of his argument is whether one needs to shoot in RAW or JPEG. It was just a polite way of saying that not everyone cares to shoot in RAW or JPEG. To some the argument is insignificant and this is the point I sometimes fail to remember.

My personal goal is to eventually be a pro shooter. For me that means that I want to be making the majority of my income on the work I do as a photographer. That is what I strive to do when I take workshops, teach workshops, attend events or share my knowledge in these articles. What I fail to remember, as I mentioned above, is that not everyone around me with a camera shares that goal. I tend to forget this point with some of the articles I write.

The meetup.com community is a great place to find social groups where members share a common interest. In my local area there are several really great photography groups who are actively gathering together for photo related events. Not everyone there has a desire to be a professional photographer but they all have the desire to learn more about the process. How much more is a personal decision each member makes for themselves but as an event leader and as the owner of this blog I feel I have an obligation to help our members progress in their learning. I, therefore, teach what I know and share what I think others may want. What I should also do is watch my language so as not to come across as, "this is what you have to do."

I need to remember that not everyone is on the same journey I am on.

Another issue that came up was that there is no way to post comments on this site in order to continue the conversation. I had originally turned it off because of the number of spam comments I had to filter through. I will see about reopening the comments section.
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  1. UnknownSaturday, May 26, 2012

    Nice article, Duck. If I may, could I add a third category of shooter? If you want to shoot somewhat casually today but revisit your images for more artistic reasons down the road, it would pay to shoot in RAW even if you don't do anything with it today. Shooting in JPEG locks the data in and RAW, plus the wealth of tools we have for processing RAW images today and in the future, will give you the flexibility to revisit older images and be newly creative.

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