Perceptive Photographer #23: Value of top ten list

A recent trip to a conference had me packing up a lot of my camera gear. To keep my own sanity and make sure that I don't leave anything behind in the hotel room, I like to make a checklist of things to pack. This time I thought it might be helpful to look at some other packing list so I did a little search on google for top photo travel list and was amazed at the number of top ten list for photography that showed up in the results. After playing for a few, there were list for everything from posing to gear to locations. It got me thinking that if everything can be distilled down to ten things or five things you need to know to really be successful, why are more of us not? As I continued to ponder, I got to thinking about making a list of the top ten things I do that keep me from my meaningful photograph. Working with issues like confidence, fear, arrogance and a host of other emotions, I have begun to realize that my top ten list had little to do with gear, technique and content. It had a lot to do with the person behind the camera and in front of the screen. I also realized how much time, effort and money I have spent on things that don't actually help my photography so I thought it might be fun to create a list of all the things that I thought would really make a difference that didn't, and use that list in the future when I think. "If I only had #6 on that list, I would be so great."