It was a busy few days, from the first monthly meeting to the On-the-Spot Shoot and Fellowship Night, I was fully immersed in my role as a probee and there was no time to recover from the stress of being an introvert exposed to so many people in such a short time.
Soon after the 1st monthly meeting, I had my first on-the-spot shoot at the Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati, interestingly a place where a major part of my career started, not my first job, but my 1st official office in Makati. It was a good visit back to memory lane and seeing the many changes over the decades.
While on location, I met so many people that knew me but I am so ashamed I couldn't remember their names. Faces did seem familiar, and their quick reactions and smiles when they saw me were there to confirm that I should know them. I guess they can easily identify me since we were introduced several times over viber and during the face to face meetings while it is hard for me to remember all their names.
The shooting activity was okay. At first, I was wary of the fact that I'm shooting with two people who have done this for a long time, and may not be as pressured to get that shot as I am. But I was glad that I joined them especially since it was my first time. Within 5 minutes, one of them had already gotten their shot, and that made me feel pressured. Then we met with others who are also pros, and with similar behavior as the first two, they could afford to take a break and have coffee before they go to work. But then again it made sense to make use of the downtime while the weather is bad and there's nothing much to shoot yet. They seem to know how to where and when to channel their energy, so I'm glad I joined them and were able to observe this.
Of course, I had to weigh the odds of simply following their lead vs walking on my own, I didn't want to seem like I wanna be too independent or proud to do things on my own but I also don't want to miss being able to explore and learn how to spot things on my own. It was interesting to be aware of this type of thinking, because it may be one of the things that hindered my growth in the past.
While there, I also got the opportunity for someone to provide me on the spot critic, and got some good ideas on how to make things different and special, such as including a human element, and something to give a sense of scale. Very interesting tips indeed. My only concern was whether I had to exert more effort and go the second day, or just live with the first day's output. What if these weren't good enough? I had a little bit of contentment but not without looking through my photos. The only risk is that I haven't had it vetted yet.
Lessons Learned:
- I know that I have this tendency to keep things to my self, sometimes a bit secretive and maybe a bit selfish to share, building a wall around me. This is something I need to improve on cause basically, I'm just hindering myself from growing. In hindsight, I could have asked one of the experts to show me what he's shooting since we were walking in the same path. Instead, I walked on my own. It's as simple as asking "do you have any tips for me"?
- When being challenged between being able to do things on my own and asking for help, I need to learn how to do this better. after all, I can do both. In the end, the feedback will be useful irregardless and I'll still have the final say. - this is exactly the meaning of humbling down.
- With the new learnings, try to critique my own photos and see how I can improve, ask questions if needed to get outside perspective
No comments:
Post a Comment