True. For many years I was a computer hobbyist, back when storage was a tape cassette recorder, a monitor was a portable TV, and you had to buy an extra 64KB (not MB!) of ram to attach to your Timex Sinclair computer that only came with 2K of RAM. About 15 years later I finally got the opportunity to make a living at it. So instead of spending 1000 hours a year on a hobby, I was spending 2500 hours a year making a living at it. The 10,000 hours of experience I got in the next 4 years would have taken 10 years as a hobby. But as a hobbyist I had no deadlines and no consequences. As a professional I did, and it made me obsessed with getting ahead of the learning curve to avoid negative consequences.
Now as a photographer hobbyist I may get a good shot every few weeks and throw away hundreds. But if I was a paid photographer, making a living at it, I'd have to make good shots every day.

I think that people mistake just pulling the trigger multiple times as "practice" when really, practice is:

1.) Focused
2.) Directed
3.) Goal Oriented


Etc.

I compare it to playing guitar (which I've done for many years) When folks "practice" they do things that they can already do...they do it mindlessly and repetitively.

But when people who are "pros" practice...they do things that they DON'T do well..and AREN'T FUN and they stretch themselves beyond their comfort zone.

So...yes..shoot shoot practice practice...but if that means taking the 1000th image of your hibiscus in your front yard...then no.

We have all heard the famous phrase uttered by none other than the incomparable HCB,"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst".
Almost daily I hear the advice, shoot, shoot, shoot(sss), and practice, practice, practice(ppp), then do it some more.
Are those of you dishing out this advice just parroting something you have heard, or has it actually helped you in some quantifiable way along you Photographic Journey/Career?
I assume you also know that the famous HCB was also one of the most highly trained artist/photographers on the planet, even to this day. Indeed attending schools that were actually pioneering photographic concepts and styles, not to mention using the best gear available in his day.
Can we actually get better by just sss/ppp without actually changing something in order to improve, and can we do that on our own without outside trained input?
Those of you that have attended real photography schools and hold something akin to a BFA or similar, could you have come to that point on your own, by just sss/ppp?

So I am inviting a discussion about whether sss, ppp actually does any good?
Those of you that are quite fond of saying it, I hope you come forward and embellish in what way you feel it's worth repeating, or are we just misleading new photographers to learn bad habits and a photographic life of just stumbling around in the dark?
Does sss, ppp teach one composition, how to use your camera or how to be an artist and produce award winning shots?
Feel free to post pics that you feel explain your position, or maybe before and after shots(after the first 10,000).
Or does something else entirely different work for you or others?
I'd like to hear from pros as well as those just starting out, that we may be able to come to a consensus to better advice those looking for that first camera or those that just got one, not to mention those that have been at it for years. Maybe we can all learn from this.
What say YOU??!! ;-)
SS