Top myths in photography

1. Learn as much as possible substantively about the subject you are photographing, whether it be birds, cities, mountains, the local people and culture, or whatever.

2. Look carefully at the photos of whatever outstanding photographers appeal to you. For me these include Kertesz, Vivian Maier, Gianni Galassi, Carolyn Hammett; for you it will doubtless be different people. Don't imitate them, don't even study them formally, just try to soak in their sensibility through repeated exposure to them.

3. Play. Fundamental to all creativity.

4. It wouldn't hurt to walk around an art museum, soaking in the sensibility of whatever paintings and sculpture appeal to you. For me it includes Egyptian art, Assyrian and Babylonian art, Impressionism, the work of Benvenuto Cellini, the sculpture of Constantin Brancusi, the mobiles of Alexander Calder, and about everything in the National Museum of Sculpture (the Bargello) in Florence. For you it will doubtless be different.

5. Disregard most other Useful Photographic Truths.

Krugman