My encouragement for you today is to try something new. Now I’m not talking about trying out a new restaurant or beer, I’m talking about trying something that you think you could possibly do, but may fail at. Why would I want you to do that? When we do try new things and fail at them, it can be quite revelatory. You will either become determined to try again until you get it right, or you may simply say, “that is just not for me.” (Which is totally okay). I have been photographing a lot for Wicked Weed Brewing lately and with the release of their big 15% Bourbon Barrel Aged Wild Imperial Stout called Dark Arts, I felt like I had to step up my game a little bit. I wanted to do one of those cool product shots with the white backdrop and the liquid being poured into the glass. Sounds easy enough. Boy, was I wrong. This turned out to be one of the hardest most complicated shots I have ever done. Kudos to guys who shoot product photography for a living. Here is what the final image ended up looking like. If you want to see the utter failure shot, scroll down.
If you want to see a major fail, here was what my first few shots looked like below.
Yeah, I totally missed the glass because I was pouring and trying to remotely fire my camera at the same time. Major spillage. I pray the beer gods will forgive me. Also, the bottle is totally not properly exposed, it is way too dark. But I was determined to get it right. I was reminded of that scene in Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne’s dad says, “Why do we fall Bruce?… So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” I kept shooting, grabbing different lights and modifiers until I finally got the shot I wanted (the shot I had in my mind). So I encourage you today in your job, your health, your family to try something new. Our culture is so afraid of failure. I typically only show my best work to people, but I want you to understand that we need to embrace our failures and learn from them. If you think you might want to try to run a marathon or a half marathon, start training. If you want to be a better mom or dad try a new technique with your child for a day. Educators, if you want to reach a challenging child then set goals for yourselves. Nurses, aim to get through a day without saying one negative thing. That is a lofty goal for anyone, and one in which you may fail, but it will give you great introspection as to what kind of impact you are having on the world, and how you may want to change to make it a better place and to make you a better person.
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