"Done Is Better Than Perfect" – What I learned from the 30-day Ramadan Photo Challenge

Ramadan this year fell in May/April 2021 and I decided to take on a 30-day photo challenge for more detail and background check out this post first “Fasting Thoughts”. The true value of this challenge came from what I learned.

The biggest thing I learned and understood was the concept of “done is better than perfect”. I have heard of it before, but I don't think I really grasped it until I did the challenge. Having to post something good in the 3 hours window every day I really felt what it means to have something done versus perfect.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean done just to get it in on time. It's more that no matter what photo you're creating, if you really think about it, there is always something you will want to tweak. This is something I felt though out the entire process.

Prep	In coming up with the concept I needed to make sure I was have not trying to create more than one concept or variations of the concept.
Shooting	In shooting it I needed to make sure that I was deliberate with my angles, lighting, lens, and composition, so I don’t get lost trying to take every shot imaginable.
Editing	In editing it I have to streamline my workflow as well as knowing where I want my viewers eyes to go where when.
Posting	In posting it I needed to know which hashtags to use constantly in which I can replace the caption also needed to be concise and not a rambling description.
Printing	Even in printing it it’s important to know what kind of services and materials are out there and give them a shot instead of pondering and researching on what is the best.

I tried to stick to the 80/20 rule. This simply means that 80% of your shot is done in 20% of the time. The key here is not to spend the rest of the 80% of your time on the last 20% making your photo perfect. I believe to grow as an artist you will have to understand that your work will never be perfect. What is perfect to you may not be perfect to others and vis versa. Art in its very nature is subjective.

In the grand scheme of the piece you’re working on, you will gain more value from getting it done than getting it perfect. You will be able to get feedback faster, learn from your mistakes quicker, hone your process better and have others enjoy your work sooner. If I would have waited until it was 100% perfect I would have failed in this challenge let alone producing any photos.

If you want to see the results of my 30-Day Ramadan photo challenge, click here. For more things that i learned from the challenge check out “Taking vs. Creating Photos”, and “Precision Can Make You More Creative”.

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