The Practicing Photographer: Essays on Developing Your Photographic Practice

by Ben Long

Ben Long has spent his career as a photographer, teacher, and workshop leader, and his message has always been clear. If you want to become a better photographer, you have to think about practice. Musicians, dancers, actors and other artists incorporate practice into their work, yet most photographers talk more about camera settings and gear than they do about their practice.

The Practicing Photographer is all about why it is so important, how to get started with it, how to use practicing to improve your skills, and how to evaluate the results of your own practice over time. Ben’s goal is to help you build your own successful practice, one that you can own, and one that produces clear results over time.

This short book consists of 50 short essays split into seven sections, covering all aspects of the photographic process, from shooting to post-production to building a portfolio of your best work. Ben also talks extensively about training your eye, not only to consistently see the world photographically, but as a route to discovering the unique characteristics of your way of seeing the world, so that you are expressing your own ideas rather than simply copying someone else’s.

Some of the other techniques you’ll discover in these pages

Learning how to defeat the editors and other negative thought processes that you carry around in your head.Learning to combat boredom.Adapting to changes in your own interests and tastes, over time, and learning how those changes affect your photography.Striving to understand what makes a successful photograph work.None of the practices discussed in The Practicing Photographer follow any rules or theories. They are not things you can learn by rote, but they are necessary if you want to move beyond the simple, process-oriented, “eight ways to improve your photos” type of instruction that you find littered around the web.

You won't find any mention of a camera company, a camera type, or any other type of gear within the pages of this book. And there is not a single photograph inside its covers, because this book is intended to be a map for building your own practice regimen, not a monograph cluttered with superfluous photographs.

With Ben as your guide, this slim volume of essays could be the most important book on photography you read this year.

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 7, 2021

Reviews

[Amarand Agasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Long is one of my favorite writers and instructors. If I were the type of person to travel to attend physical in-person workshops, finding a Ben Long led course is absolutely on my bucket list. Good news: he writes books, and teaches on-line courses, so you can enjoy his well-researched teachings anywhere. This book dovetails nicely in with his other media. It’s less of a procedural book (which he also has in Complete Digital Photography), and more of a “this is the stuff They don’t tell you” book. One of the secrets of this book is that each person will takeaway something different from it, and, like with any discipline, the more you put into it in regular practice, the more you’ll get out of it. This book is just a reminder, from various directions, to do so. One thing I’d like to see the author make is a guided practice book. Maybe a nice expensive one with special cloth binding, where he gives you assignments and you can *gasp* write notes in it. Just a thought. A guided practice book would be fun! Ben Long giving assignments in writing. (He already basically gives assignments in his various LinkedIn Learning courses.) So, anyway, fun book! I’m sure I’ll be re-reading this semi-regularly. Seems like the type of book that you get different things out of it at different times.

[Alan Bevan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the multiple titles I have read about photography, this short book of essays is easily one of the best. Long's basic premise is that photography is a craft that needs practice, just like any other art. He explores practice in all its forms, including practising seeing. Many of the essays address mental attitudes and self talk.
It is refreshing to read a book about photography that doesn't need illustrations or to refer to camera models etc.
A great book - except I'm sure there is a typo in the title! Perhaps it is US spelling? Irrelevant really...

[Bruce R. Coryell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good photographic advice

Pithy, short essays dispensing practical advice on photography. Geared to amateurs and art photography novices and wannabes. Not so much for commercial photographers.