You're not a bad photographer. You're just in stage 2.
There's a simple framework that maps the psychological journey of learning any skill, including photography.
Recently I came across a simple yet profound framework that perfectly captures the psychological progression we all go through when learning a new skill: the "Four Stages of Competence", popularized in the 1970s by Noel Burch at Gordon Training International. Here are the four stages, along with my take on each one from a photography perspective.
- Unconscious incompetence
You don't know what you don't know.
You buy a new camera, set everything to Auto, point it at things, and press the shutter button. Later, when reviewing images, you wonder why your images don't look good compared to what you see on social media. You don't know how people are getting blurry backgrounds behind their subjects, or beautiful colors and light in a landscape. Photography feels cryptic and mysterious. - Conscious incompetence
You know what you don't know.
You build a stronger understanding of exposure, composition, and the best times of day for outdoor shooting. You buy an ND filter and experiment with slow shutter speeds to blur water and clouds. You invest in better glass. Your processing improves. Your images seem to be getting better, but still feel you have a long way to go. - Conscious competence
You can do it well, but it takes effort.
Everything you've learned is now in play, yet it still feels like work. Perfection is the name of the game. Tack-sharp details, camera at precisely the right position, light at just the right minute. Every image requires planning, preparation, and time. You're overthinking your process, and may even start to miss the days when you didn't take things so seriously. - Unconscious competence
You do it well without thinking about it.
The technical side of photography is no longer front of mind. Using a camera feels like playing an instrument. You adjust exposure, focal length, and composition without your conscious brain getting involved. Your hands seem to have a mind of their own. You return from shooting and barely remember what you captured (yet are happy with the results).
On good days, I feel like I sometimes catch a brief whiff of stage 4. Images seem to come without active thought or planning. Photography feels improvisational and instinctive. I look at imported images in Lightroom, and don't remember where some of them were taken or why.
But most of the time? I'd say I oscillate between stage 2 and 3. I have a tendency to overthink and overshoot images, moving my tripod an inch here and there to get a better angle.
On bad days, I feel like I'm back at stage 1, and this photography thing is a total waste of time.
But what really fascinates me about stage 4 is its relationship with stage 1. When you think about it, both are unconscious states of creation. One without experience, the other with. I bet some people learn a great deal about their craft, then wish they could trash everything and start over.
Maybe that's the point. Maybe these four stages aren't a ladder at all, but a loop. A chance to release the rules, forget best practices, then return to the freedom and curiosity of the beginner's mind. A chance to learn something new, reset, and learn again.
I also made a video on this topic if you'd care to check it out:
