A few years ago, a coworker of mine looked a photo of a waterfall that I made, and simply said “I don’t like these all white waterfall photos”. When I asked why, he replied “Because you see it too often”.
This comment really stuck with me. We all get to this point eventually, where we get stuck between reproducing the nice images we have seen and wanting to be a bit different, and this comment specifically got to me. Part of the problem was, at that time, I was quite proud of that photo.

Over the years between then and now, I kind of agree. The photo is interesting, and I like it, but I don’t feel like it is anything special, at least not anymore. At one point, photos like this were rare. But over the years, so many have attempted to immitate the photos they saw that were great, but in the process, have lost why they were great.
There is a different waterfall photo from that same trip that I actually think is more special, although my parents hate it.

I actually like both photos, but I’ve always prefered the second of these two. I feel like it is more than just a pretty picture.
Since I get no comments, I’m going back to the “I like both photos” from 2 lines ago. Yes, my preference is for #2, but that is that. A preference.
-M