Professional, I find it interesting that you feel that your results are not as good as those of many of the pros here (I feel the same), but at the same time, you took the userid "Professional"? Why not just use your name?
Anyway, I am not quite sure what your main message was. Although you do seem to be satisfied in the end, given your equipment, your results and your situation in total, there is also some uncertainty and insecurity about how good your photos are. If I recall correctly, you have posted some nice portraits of your daughter here? Clearly you have some skill.
I read a quote by Ansel Adams that he reckoned that he got 12 good shots per year. 12! Ansel Adams! I agree with him, I get about 12 good shots per year, but not Ansel Adams-good
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I had feelings of insecurity about my photography not being so great for a long time. I took many photos, but drifted style-wise, trying this and that, some street, some landscape, some architecture, some travel, some animals, but never really found anything to keep my interest permanently, and I didn't grow much, I just got technically better with time. There were some really good shots in between which kept me going, but never with any regularity, and there was a lot of mediocre shots in between the good ones, not to speak of plain bad ones.
Recently, I lived close to a little cemetary and made it a habit of walking through it with a camera on my way to work each morning. Slowly I started exploring the cemetary's corners, and the various motifs in it. My results slowly improved, but somehow my interest was steady the whole time. Something about the quiet place, the lack of people and noise, the slightly old feel and the materials in a cemetary, and the fallen stones, the rusted fences and so on fed my creativity.
I moved a bit further away, the side entrance I used was closed off, and I stopped going there. After a while, I started make special trips there to make more photos again, this time not with my Canon 5D (which I sold because I never warmed up to the results), nor with my M8 (which isn't really the right camera for tight framing and close-ups), but with my new-old Contax 645 AF and 35mm and 120mm Makro lenses, high-res B&W film, and a tripod. I reshot my old favorites, and started exploring more, and this time the results started feeling good. I started visiting other cemetaries, and each time, it takes me about an hour to get into my flow, but then I continue on my project and my collection of good shots is slowly growing.
At some point, I decided to make a formal, long-term project out of it: Old Cemetaries of Berlin. At some point, I will have done enough, and will end it properly, but for now, it is still going strong.
Oddly, for the first time in a long time (forever?), my gear-lust abated. The Contax 645 AF, 35mm and 120mm were simply enough. I got all that I wanted with them, and the 55mm, 210mm and 350mm lenses which I had considered never got bought. I did get into situations where I wished I had some movements, to avoid a tree but still get a squared-up result, to straighten some perspective lines, to tilt the focus plane, and so now I have decided to get a 4x5 field camera, with 90mm and 210mm lenses, and continue my project with them, perhaps re-shooting the best of the shots which I could have done better with movements.
Another odd thing that happened is that I stopped caring that much what other people thought of my shots. I feel that they are good, that they are right, and it pleases me if others like them, but if not, oh well, not important. They are good to me. I never felt like that before.
I have now started thinking about other favorite shots as projects as well, and I think I know what my next project will be when this one is done, but it can wait. 1 year, 2 years, however long, until I am done with this one, and ready for the next. I think I might even know what the project after the next is going to be
Somehow my thinking about photography is completely changed. I separated casual and serious photography completely, and enjoy it much more as a result.
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I, of course, make other photos in between, with other cameras, but I have no other serious projects, and the quality of the other shots is less crucial, just my project shots must, for me, be really good.
Long boring story, but here is my point: just keep shooting, and explore different things. At some point, you will find something which holds your interest for more than one visit. go back, and keep going back. Find the best kit for that situation and keep shooting it. Build up the understanding of the kit, the subject and the quality of the shots.
Sooner or later in the growth of every photographer, I think a point comes when it is no longer about experimenting with this or that genre, but about projects with specific themes. One can of course have multiple projects going at the same time, but one at a time has a special power, I think.
Here is one shot from my project which I really like. I do need to clean the negative and rescan it. There are loads of little dust spots on my current scan.
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