What do you do if you want to push the boundaries and take risks in your photography career?

Ignore what anyone says and go and do it. There is no better way to learn than to go out and experiment and take risks - that's how you grow as a person and as a photographer.

Most of the time, if someone, a potential client, asks me if I have ever shot something I have not shot befpre, my response is, Yes, yes I can do that, then before the shoot it is a scramble to learn what I need to do. This happened a lot during my early sports photography career. I had a client ask me if I could shoot cricket. I knew what cricket was, but I, to this day, do not understand the game at all, but I told him yes, and then went and learned everything I could, and looked at other photographers cricket photos, so I knew what images to look for. It was scary, because I did not know what was going on, but, after shooting the match, I am confident I can do it at anytime, even while I do not know what is going on in the match.

What I do wanting to push the boundaries and take risks in my photography career? Even when you’re a beginning photographer you can push your boundaries. For often a photographer has a theme within he/she’s working, for example: nature. A huge step is adding animals. Animal photography is not easy and takes time, so you’ll have to make a better planning and probably choose a different location. If you’re a successful portrait photographer you can push your boundaries by examining first where there’s a niche. That takes a lot of time, which you can best imply on a regular daily basis for you have to make money as well. Then the question is if you niche is accepted by the public and being a success or if it’s a waste of time.

If you want to push the boundaries and take risks in your photography career, set goals on what you want to do, how you want to do it, and what you want to achieve. Trying something new always comes with ups and downs but with constant practice, the best is achieved.

Continual learning is key. Examine where you have come from and reflect on how you got to where you are - what steps did you follow? Are they still applicable. Take a refresher course, even back to the basics. Look at other photographers' work. Look at photography contest winning entries. Ask questions. Network with other photographers.

I have been shooting since the late 1980s and to this day I am learning something new with photography every day. Some things are stuff I learn from other shooters, some is wild ideas I may come up with, and sometimes it is in post processing. Some things work, some do not, but when it doesn't work, I try to figure out what I can do next time to make it work the way I envisioned.

This goes back to my previous comment. Sometimes I get ideas, sometimes it is lighting, and when it does not come out the way I want, I will try again, and again, until I achieve the look I was shooting for. When I am on assignment, or doing a specific job, once I have captured the images I need for the job, I will start experimenting. This can be anything from shooting location, using different lenses, or maybe experimenting with slow shutter speeds, zoom effects. Sometimes when you experiment after capturing what you need, you end up with photos the client will like even more.

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