What Happens When Hate Your Photography?

Reflections on navigating creative lows

It is inevitable. At some point in your journey as a photographer—especially if you deeply love the craft—you’ll encounter a moment where you look at your work and just hate what you see. For some reason, it just doesn’t resonate with who you are. Here’s the thing: this is part of the journey.

Not only are these feelings completely normal; they’re essential. These feelings of discontent and dissatisfaction toward your work are signals of growth. Your taste is evolving. The same passion that brought you to photography is now calling you to grow.

This week, I’ll share my approach to navigating these moments and transforming frustration into momentum.

---

---

The Details

This portrait was captured on my Leica M11 with the modern Summilux 50mm lens. The aperture was set to F8.0, the shutter speed to 1/125, and the ISO landed at 2,000.

---

The Story

On the final day of a three-week adventure, I took a photo walk through Moore Market in the heart of Chennai. It was my first time there, and though I tried to capture the scene, something felt off.

Maybe it was exhaustion, but I felt like I was forcing each shot, hoping my rhythm would come back. Eventually, I came across this young shopkeeper at a used camera stall, a seemingly perfect subject for a portrait.

Reviewing the photos later, a wave of dissatisfaction hit me. The imperfections and lack of attention to detail weren’t in the scene—they were in my approach. There was no fault on my subject, he was all grace. All I could see were the mistakes I had made. This frustration started spilling into a general feel of discontent, and from past experience, I knew that if I didn’t address it, it would impact more than just my photography. So, how do I go about addressing moments like this?