Why photographers should embrace the beauty of imperfection

Photography always seems to be about the pursuit of perfection

There is so much concentration on how sharp an image is, whether everything is in focus and whether there is enough detail in the highlights and shadows. Apparently, the best way to keep making perfect images is to keep upgrading your camera with a bigger sensor and a higher megapixel count.

I was on this bandwagon for years. I worried about lens sharpness. I felt that I had to learn focus stacking. And I had an unhealthy obsession with histograms.

But this focus on perfection meant that I missed out on so many opportunities.

Then I discovered wabi-sabi

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese philosophy. Simply put, it is all about finding beauty and serenity in imperfection and impermanence. In other words, things do not have to be perfect to be beautiful.

Once I embraced this in my photography, my whole creative outlook began to change. I stopped trying to make ever better traditional compositions of classic subjects. And I started to see the world in a different way. I discovered that there was beauty and interest to be found wherever I looked. It didn’t matter that what I now wanted to make images of what might be small and insignificant and damaged. Everything had some form of beauty. Everything had a story to tell. 

I would encourage everyone to embrace imperfection in their photography. And there are two ways to do this.

Find imperfection in our subjects

There is so much beauty and inspiration in what we normally don’t look at. The dead rose at the top of this blog. A reflection in the river made less clear by the wind. Weeds. Peeling rust. A faded or damaged sign. All can be worthy of our attention. And all have their own histories, their own stories to tell.

Find imperfection in our photography process

Stop looking for pin sharp, perfectly focussed images. Many images are more expressive simply because they are not sharp. A blurry or unfocussed element leaves more to the imagination.

Intentional camera movement makes a virtue out of blur. When I use ICM, I am saying something about how I feel about a subject. There is an increasing use of vintage lenses, toy cameras and pinhole photography simply because they add a different feel to a subject. Images made by these methods encourage the viewer to look at the everyday in a different way.

There’s a danger to ignoring imperfection

If we keep striving for the perfect image, we risk both our photography and our view of the world becoming sterile. We search for what is rarely seen in everyday life.

That is what happened to me earlier in my photography journey. I stopped enjoying the images that I was making. I rarely saw the image that I wanted to create. I was busy searching for a version of the world that did not exist. And then I learned about wabi-sabi.

I am much happier now that I have embraced imperfection

There is so much more in the world to enjoy and to celebrate. I can quietly lose myself by making images, no matter what is around me. I have found joy in my photography again.

Would you like to see the world in a different way, imperfections and all?

My book A Deeper Way Of Seeing helps you develop your photographic vision in new ways. And there are over sixty exercises for you to try out and evolve your own style of photography.

Find out more here