Nowadays, as a photographer or assimilated photographer, we strive to *always* present exciting pictures. Whatever the cost. That cost may be a bit higher than we have in mind.
What happens if we have no exciting picture to present? Do we simply disappear?
The question is a complicated one. And the solution might be a “painful” decision. As photographers, pro or semi or even amateur, we always want to show our best shots. Nothing but the best for the audience, right?
Blue hour at its best
Well, that premise comes with a price. A price that is not easy to define at first. Here’s what will happen: you post a great shot of a rare animal online. It gets hundreds, if not thousands of likes and comments. But that was also your only shot of that animal before it moved out of your range.
Dragonfly, Twelve Spotted Skimmer
The rest of your pictures don’t contain such a rare animal or even any other rare animal at all. So you try to go and hunt for another “best” shot. Sometimes you succeed, but with wildlife, most of the time you will fail.
Thunderstorm over Winnipeg
Does that make you a worse/bad photographer? Not presenting an excellent picture will make you feel inadequate, people deserve better. You can do better! And that’s where that “price” comes into view. Instead of hunting for good enough pictures, you hunt for the best pictures, passing up on the others that are seemingly not worthy of your audience.
Hurricane Lee, 16-09-2023
After a while, your hunting skills may get better, but only if you can put in all the time required. Most of us have other work to do during the day/week. Putting in a full-time hunting session to get an excellent shot is probably not in the cards for us, unless we have made it our full-time business.
Juvenile Bald Eagle
So what do we do to not disappoint anyone? We decide to simply not post anything that is not worthy or up to your standards.
Western Head lighthouse in the mist
All we need to do is lower those standards a little bit. Not too much… Presenting blurry pics of an undefinable animal on the run is not an acceptable shot unless the subject is motion blur. You get the drift.
Red-Sided Garter Snake
Photography is often perceived as a competition between photographers. Who gets the best shot of an owl, who gets the sharpest shot of a sports event and so on. All we need to focus on is the goal of our photography. Most often (at least for me) this is the pleasure of photography. The pleasure of discovering different techniques, and methods and then obtaining a decent result.
Balloon flight over Winnipeg
It is obvious that after taking a course, online or in person, one is not a professional in the subject of the course. That needs practice and more practice. My first shots of an Aurora were horrible. None of them were in focus, stars looked like fuzzy tennis balls and more. But it didn’t persuade me to drop Aurora Photography. Nope, not for a second.
Matlock, MB
Did I only present the best of my aurora shots? Also no. I presented good shots, wonderful shots and sometimes mediocre shots that had something else than the main subject going for them. “Only the best” or “Only the most exciting” is a race to the bottom, both for you and your audience.
Western Head in the mist
Your audience deserves better, right? But your audience has no idea what you are going through; they also couldn’t care less. Get over it. Post your shots, and hope for the best. Then learn to take better shots. 
Until next time…