Professional vs amateur photographer

If I had been there with a camera and had captured this shot of sunset over Longs Peak (in Rocky Mountain National Park) last night, I’d have been elated. Stunning shot.

However, the professional who shot this, Erik Stensland of Estes Park, Colo., didn’t care for it. He said on his Facebook page that he “wasn’t a big fan of the photo I posted this morning.” And in a comment he said he “needed a different angle than what I had.”

I’d love to be good enough to not like a shot like this.

6 thoughts on “Professional vs amateur photographer

  1. Does it boggle your mind that a place like this even exists?? I’m a Christian, which informs me that this picture is one of fallen creation. I can only imagine what it was, and what it someday will be again. Thanks for posting this “reject”.

  2. But as photographers you have to agree that you know when you have near achieved your personal best and when you could of done better, I think he was just wishing it had of been more of a perfect capture, meaning he knows he can do better.

    1. I’ve never known a creative, artistic person who didn’t always think he or she could do better. The trick is to know when to stop trying to improve the existing work — stopping while it’s still quite good and before more fiddling would ruin it. I’m not sure a point exists where the artist or photographer stands back and says, “There, that’s the absolute best I can make it. It’s perfect.” So we keep striving …

... and that's my two cents