Are you a confident person? How do you feel before entering a room of strangers? Before an important meeting at work? Before anything at all that requires you to “perform” or put you on show?

I’m not, and never have been, full of self-confidence, and what  little belief I had in myself was decimated three years ago with a seismic shift in my life. The time since then has been very hard at times, and each small step towards re-building some degree of confidence has often been followed not so much by two steps back than by a tumble backwards down the stairs. 

So, what has this to to with photography? I’ll tell you. Look at the pictures of the Humber Bridge that I’ve included with this post. 

If you’re a critic or even a moderately enthusiastic photographer, you’ll identify faults with every photo: lots of them. But for me, it was the “I can do this!” moment, the point where I suddenly acquired enough confidence to take something more than snaps. I’d taken the pictures, taught myself to process HDR (high dynamic range), up to a point, and ended-up with several images that to me were something more than snaps, one of which I had mounted and framed (the vanity!). It was the fact that I’d managed to create something, on my own, that made the difference. It was a start.

Over five years on from that morning at the Humber Bridge, my confidence in taking and processing photographs has steadily grown. Learning (still learning, really) about long exposures, composition (ditto), processing (why, oh, why is it so complicated?); posting on Instagram; submitting to magazines and being published; launching a website; and, strange at it may seem, developing enough confidence to set a tripod up and take pictures when other humans are around!

My point is this: I’m not perfect and never will be; and I’ll never have huge self belief or the confidence to do some things that other people take for granted. But, I can take small steps and I do some things that others value, and that give me great satisfaction. And so can you.

It may not be photography, but there’s something out there that can help if, like me, you lack that something others seem to have in abundance: confidence.

Happy New Year.

Tim