
Written by Drew Evans
I sometimes find myself scrolling through Instagram, looking at some incredible image from a photographer I admire, thinking how much better they are at this whole photo thing. Maybe it’s just me, but I doubt it. The salient point is a simple one, and it’s not that I spend too much time on my phone.
Everyone—even your photography heroes—starts at the beginning.
They made mistakes, they struggled, they had to learn from nothing. And while it can be endlessly frustrating to deal with those hurdles, they often make you a better photographer. These are just a few of the struggles I’ve experience in my time that I think had the biggest impact on my career.

Thinking in a New Language
I’m an avid language learner. I’ve had my hand at Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, and more recently French.
One of the hardest things about learning a new language is getting to the stage where you naturally start to think in that language. I’ve gotten there for a brief moment in just one of the above languages.
It’s no different in photography.
Think of your language as your fundamentals—aperture, shutter speed, ISO, film stock, focal length, etc. In theory, you want to look at any composition and be able to visualize your output. You want to know that Portra 400 shot at ISO 200, 1/50th, and f/2.8 will give you the exact shot you’re looking for, and that changing any one of those variables won’t give you exactly what you want.


That takes years of practice, and it isn’t something that a few online articles or classes will teach you. It’s almost instinctual. But it’s also something that can be maddening, especially shooting film without the ability for instant feedback. So take your time, give yourself flexibility.
What I found most helpful was to write things down. It was especially good in the long run to help build the muscle and think more naturally in photography terms. When I get my negatives back, I’m able to look at each shot and have a sense of what variables I changed.
Before I go shoot, I take my mini Field Notes notebook and write out a simple table: shots 1-36, with columns for aperture and shutter speed. I’ll make a note of my film stock and ISO too. That way, when I want to try something to see what happens (like shoot in low light with a slow shutter speed), I have a physical reminder of what I did.
No matter your approach, remember this won’t be engrained overnight. While you’ll remember that f/2.8 gives you more light than f/11, how that plays out in practice (and what your resulting images look like) requires patience.




Finding Your “Thing,” Whatever It Is
When I first started on my photography journey, I thought I needed to learn how to shoot everything. Portraits, landscapes, weddings, street, product. Everything.
What’s that saying, though? Right.
“Jack of all trades is a master of none.”
But here’s the catch: you don’t have to learn everything to be good at something. It’s where I went wrong. Because I was so focused on doing all of those styles of photography, I didn’t find my thing for years. It’s hard to be inspired when everything is inspiring. I couldn’t figure out which direction to go. And it ultimately led to a weird mashup of styles and subjects that never fit.
Once I finally decided that landscapes were my thing, it was far easier to jump in. Now I had motivation. It made it easier to decide the focal lengths I liked and editing styles. And once I switched to film, the film stocks I liked. I started dabbling in long exposures and understanding how light would impact my images.
My amateur advice here is to find what excites you. For me, that was nature, showing how big the world is. Sink your teeth in. Remember—it’s not permanent, so if you decide it’s actually not for you, move on and try something new.



On Impostor Syndrome
We live in an internet-first era, one where information is more accessible than ever. That’s an amazing thing—you can search and learn virtually anything. Learn about an unexplored topic. Find inspiration in other art forms. Uncover opportunities to try new things.
But access comes with its fair share of challenges. For me, the most notable is constantly comparing myself to others. Measuring my work against theirs. So many photographer’s I’ve talked to, especially in the Instagram world, struggle with this.
And while it can be a helpful exercise, it’s only so if you actually use it as constructive feedback and learn from it. That’s hard to do.


To help, I’ve created a mental checklist as I’m looking at other images. That way, I can skip the “I’m not as good” moments and go straight to the “how can I get better” moments.
I try to look at a few things in the images that really stand out to understand the “why” behind my feeling: composition, contrast, color.
- Composition: Why do I like this image? What makes it interesting? Where does my eye gravitate?
- Contrast: How have they created depth? How have they used lighting to create interest?
- Color: Is it color or black and white? Why does that work?
Even a short list of questions like this pretty immediately gets me out of my own head. Instead, I can focus on the makeup of the image—not that feeling of “oh, I could never.” It turns into a learning opportunity rather than another chance to compare.



Photography is a lifetime hobby. Once you’re sucked in, it’s hard to back out. That also means you’ll have so much time to iron out the wrinkles. Whatever struggles you’re experiencing now, odds are, you’ll overcome them soon.
Just be patient. And maybe avoid Instagram for a bit.

Thank you so much, Drew! Drew is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out his other articles here, such as Why Fuji Pro 400H Might Be My Favorite Color Film and Should You Edit Your Film Scans? 3 Thoughts on Getting the Best Out of Your Images.
You can also check out more of Drew’s work on his Instagram.
Leave your questions about shooting film or share your struggles below in the comments!

Blog Comments
Joan Mikkelsen
September 22, 2024 at 10:11 pm
Super helpful and encouraging article. Thank you!