How I Took a Beginner Fail and Turned It into Something I'm Proud Of
Spoiler: It involves a broken camera, a broken wrist, and a very humbling critique.
I went to college for Fine Arts Photography. My second photography class ever was Intermediate Photography. I had a rough go with Beginner Photography right before that. My camera broke, I double-fractured the wrist on my dominant hand, and my professor was so pregnant, she probably shouldn't have been teaching. It was a rough semester. After a year-long break to recover from barely passing the class, I signed up for Intermediate Photography class thinking, "Yep, I'm jumping off straight into the deep end."
One of our assignments during the semester was to document the landscape around us. I had no clue what I was doing, but I knew I loved architecture, so I wanted to include that. I knew most of my classmates were photographing the mountains, so I was eager to prove I had an eye for something special.
That weekend, I was visiting my then-boyfriend (now husband's) family in Utah. With my camera in tow, my boyfriend and I went exploring around Ogden and stumbled across Union Station.
The Critique That Stuck With Me
Union Station caught my eye immediately. It seemed grand, full of character, and a little bit busy with people taking prom pictures outside of it. I snapped a few photos, thinking I'd captured something unique.
When it came time to present the assignment in class, along with my print, my professor looked at my print and said something that stuck out to me:
"These are the most cliché photos of a famous place. It's what no beginner photographer should ever do."
Ouch. In class, we had been doing critiques, so I was prepared for some positive and negative feedback on maybe my composition or shutter speed, but not a total dismissal of the whole photo.
I felt so embarrassed. Being from North Carolina, I didn't realize Union Station was so well-known. I knew what made a photo cliché, and suddenly, I felt like a fraud. I was so embarrassed for the rest of class. But looking back, I learned so much from that moment. Sometimes it’s not about composition or creativity, but more about trusting your gut and vision.
Here's the photo in question:
Coming Back to Union Station
Years later, after moving to Utah, I found myself drawn back to Union Station. Not because I needed a location for a project, but because I wanted to reimagine it on my own terms. To photograph it not as a famous landmark for a landscape photo, but as a story. A feeling. A character.
So that's what I did. This time, I took an editorial approach with a model. I focused on framing, emotion, atmosphere, and the architecture around Union Station. I shot with intention, curiosity, and honestly a little bit of "I'm going to show my old professor what I can really do with this place." This was my second take on Ogden's Union Station, but this time it wasn't for a grade. It was for me. To be creative, to redeem myself from years ago, and to prove that I can take something familiar and put my own creative twist on it. And no one can take that away from me.
Why "Cliché" Shots Deserve a Second Chance
Everyone has to start somewhere, right? And honestly, sometimes that means taking the classic, cliché shots first. When you're new, those photos help you figure out your style, find your voice, and help you discover why you picked up a camera in the first place.
So if you're just starting out, don't stress about snapping the obvious pictures. Take them, learn from them, and get it all out of your system. Then come back to these spots when you're ready, and watch what happens when you get to call the creative shots and think outside of the box.
Want to see how Union Station inspired me the second time around? Scroll down to check it out!
Keep the Creativity Rolling 🎞️
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