"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst"

Those were the words of the famous French master Henri Cartier-Bresson.  I read them somewhere today and then considered how many pictures I’d taken over the last year. Were they enough to get me over the proverbial 10k hump? Sadly, I concluded, they were not.  In fact, I’ve barely taken a thousand snaps in the last 18 months.  Could this be the reason so many of my photos are over or under exposed, and why my sense of composition is still so far off? If quantity is the key, then I’m doomed!

As I sit here now and ponder my photographic future, it occurs to me that becoming a “photographer”, amateur or otherwise, like most things in life, will take time and dedication. I need to develop a relationship with my camera and learn its nuances.  In short, I need to get out there and start using it!


So, here I am, still near the beginning of the learning curve and starting my countdown to 10,001.  To paraphrase the great Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu, the journey of ten thousand photos begins with a single click!





Taken in a cafe in Quebec City - last summer.