I picked up copies of Humans of New York and Peace, Love and Pepper Spray to add to my small collection of photo books. Also, I picked up Getting Your Shot: Stunning Photos, How-to Tips, and Endless Inspiration From the Pros and Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs of People.
While I'm not what you'd call a professional photographer, I have been paid for a picture or two at this point, and I've learned along the way. Mostly what I've learned is how much more there is to learn. That's the flip side of Dunning-Kruger: once you fall off the other side of Mount Stupid, you have an endlessly long slog up the Slope of Knowledge out of the Valley of Despair.
That goes for any skill. Greg Ellifritz is a widely respected trainer in the world of firearms and personal protection, and he writes:
"I think it is the job of a professional instructor to remain up to date in their fields of endeavor. I won’t stop taking classes as long as I am teaching these skill sets. I vow to never become one of those instructors whose peak instructional training is a weekend NRA class.One of the meta-instructive things at a group event like TacCon or the old Paul-E-Palooza was you got to see which instructors were out there taking classes from other presenters in their free time. When someone decides they're too cool to learn anything new, it makes me question the value of their teaching.
I think I owe it to my students to show them that I am continuing to do the work."
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