Are You Lucky Or Talented?

What makes your best photos good?

Was it luck or talent?

Tatiana Hopper our favourite YouTube commentator on all things about photography leads us on a photographic quest to come to an understanding about how we can approach our own photography.

One of the examples she uses comings from Robert Frank’s iconic photo book “The Americans” and contained within it is Frank’s amazing image called “Trolley“. (I have my own copy which I treasure.)

As Tatiana describes the 1955 image. It’s an image where the more you look at the more you’ll see. It looks like a photo of people on a New Orlean’s trolley but it’s so much more.

Another case in point is Eugene Smith’s image “Tomoko in her Bath“. Shot in 1972 (just when I was starting out as a photojournalist) this photo seems to be just a photo of a mother bathing her daughter. But it’s so much more. I’ll let Tatiana tell you the story behind the image.

And I’ll let Tatiana provide the lessons behind these images and how you can incorporate this learning into your own work.

This is a must-watch video: Why Iconic Photos Are Never Acccidents.