Develop Taste to Get Good
In the summer of 2021, I decided to learn photography. I didn’t know about lighting or composition or exposure. I didn’t even know what kind of photos I wanted to take. I took random snapshots of landscapes, of autos, of random wildlife photography. There was no learning, just me pressing the shutter button.
I hadn’t yet developed any taste. Albeit coding is my
passion, I curb my enthusiasm playing basketball like the
late greats Gigi, Black Mamba & Pistol Pete, longboarding
with my Sector 9 pintail & capturing grainy photography
with my 35mm Canon T80 T70.
Here’s an out of focus photo of a baby owl composed with a Canon AC 50mm f/1.8 & 244T Speedlite shooting 400 iso with my brother's Canon T80, circa 2021. I hadn’t yet developed any taste, let alone mastering the art of manual focus.
Why Develop Taste
First, good taste drives us to make better things. Radio host Ira Glass has this great bit on ‘doing the work’. Listen to the whole thing (2 min).
“But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer & your taste is why your work disappoints you.”
If we want to get better, we need something to compare our results to. We need a direction to work towards. Taste gives us that direction.
Second, we can’t do anything innovative in the field if we don’t know what’s out there. I took random photos because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. This doesn’t mean keeping up with the latest trends. It means learning from the classics, learning the fundamentals. Once we’ve got a solid grasp of the field, then we can push the boundaries.
Finally, the process of developing taste shows us what we enjoy & what we don’t.
Where to Develop Taste
The obvious place to develop taste is any kind of creative field: photography, painting, writing. We don’t often think this way, but it’s possible to develop taste in non-creative fields too:
- Career ~ 9-5 job or freelancer? Huge corporation or basement startup?
- Living Situation ~ American suburb or Asian metropolis? House with roommates or tiny studio?
- Science ~ What big questions are still being asked? What big questions have been mostly answered? What theories are being developed?
- Exercise ~ Weightlifting? Crossfit? Couch potato? Ultra Marathons?
- Information ~ What kind of books/blogs/newspapers do you read? How do you know it’s trustworthy?
How to Develop Taste
Until you learn the fundamentals, flailing about with random tactics is a slow way to proceed. In the visual arts, fundamentals like composition, lighting, & color theory are the building blocks of every great painting, photograph, or design. In physics, it’s mechanics, electrostatics, waves, thermodynamics. If you’re unsure of what the fundamentals are, try to find a guide online, or look at a college degree syllabus.
Find Creators & Curators, avoid Hucksters
In any field there are:
- Creators ~ Those who make things, & push the field in new directions
- Curators ~ Those who comb the field & collect the best to share
- Masses ~ Those who consume the fruits of the field
- Hucksters ~ Those who copy the creators, add nothing new, & exploit the masses for profit
The photography world is full of ‘experts’ with bad portfolios, the fitness world full of ‘experts’ who spend more time on forums than in the gym/lab. Avoid hucksters, & don’t become one yourself.
All of this requires a meta-level of taste in information. You & I can spot a ‘Nigerian Prince’ email scam from a mile away. People unfamiliar with technology don’t have any taste in scams, so they fall for them.
Developing taste is not without its risks.
Risk 1 ~ Become Elitist
Don’t let an interest in dressing better turn into disdain for those plebians who don’t wear designer clothes.
Risk 2 ~ Waste Time & Money Chasing Asymptotic Results
Head-fi.org is a forum for audiophiles. Their unofficial welcome message:
“Welcome to Head-Fi. Sorry about your wallet.”
I’ve spent untold hours reading head-fi, looking for my next purchase. I’ve spent thousands of dollars chasing the ultimate headphone/amplifier combination. But past a certain point diminishing returns kicks in ~ my next dollar won’t go as far as my first. Can I tell the difference between a $2000 setup & a $500 setup? Yes, but at that point I’m no longer able to enjoy the music, it’s just a discernment exercise.
Unless you’re trying to be #1, don’t chase asymptotic results.
Risk 3: Chasing Taste to Avoid Creating
At some point we need to use our taste to create. Developing taste can feel productive, even while it’s robbing us of creative hours. Having said that, developing taste is easy compared to creating. Our brains want to take the easy route. If I browse Instagram for an hour, I feel like I’ve done something to improve my photography. In reality, I would’ve been better off photographing for 50 minutes, and maybe Instagramming for 10 minutes.
Let’s finish this post by returning to Ira Glass:
“…the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, & your work will be as good as your ambitions. I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
“He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation.” ~ Curated Excerpt From: Chris Voss. “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It.” Apple Books.
Curated via James Stuber. Thanks for reading, cheers! (with a glass of wine & book of course)
2016 Cathedral Ridge Dampier Vineyard Pinot Noir
Producer: Cathedral Ridge Winery, Columbia Gorge, Hood River County, Oregon, USA
"Our Dampier Pinot is a deliciously distinct example of vineyard specific nuances. A beautiful, bright wine with late harvest cherries & earth characteristics on the nose & a full palate of Rainer cherry, & lingering baking spice. We age the wine in neutral oak barrels for a minimum of 16 months. While considered a long time for Pinot Noir, we believe this makes a smoother, more developed Pinot than one that is bottled in under than a year. At the cool end of the Columbia Gorge region, Dampier Pinot Noir is a true cool weather Pinot with mouthwatering acidity." ~ Cathedral Ridge Winery
"This delivers a very fresh & vibrantly fruited style with a crunchy, red-fruit core & terrific, lithe, juicy fruit that really pops. Succulent & appealing. Drink now." ~ 92 Points ~ James Suckling
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
A former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new, field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations ~ whether in the boardroom or at home.
After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator.
Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss’s head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles ~ counterintuitive tactics and strategies ~ you too can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life.
Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.
