12 Apr 2025 · Vietnamese below
Photography actually taught me something pretty important.
There's this understanding that most people in photography probably already know:
- If you shoot with a high ISO, your images will be noisier compared to shooting with a low ISO.
Because of that, the usual advice is: “Try to shoot at the lowest ISO possible so you can get clean, polished images.”
But here’s the thing. I learned something from internet creator Simon d'Entremont: “Don’t be afraid of ISO.” And it really stuck with me.
He explained that in photography, you can always clean up noise in post-processing with software or AI. But there are three things you can’t fix afterward:
- Bad composition
- Motion blur
- Missed focus
That idea taught me something deeper about life. There are things you can fix later, and there are things you can’t. Your school grades, your education, some key moments in youth—those don’t come back. If you’re still in school, please try to do well. You can’t go back and retake your high school years when you’re older, and I know what regret feels like. I didn’t even get a class photo. It hurts.
So make the most of it. Join clubs. Do activities. Laugh with your friends. Those moments never repeat.
And about risk:
- Don’t live life like you’re on low ISO all the time. Low ISO = less risk = cleaner outcome—but sometimes you miss the real moment.
- You can’t fix motion blur later in life, and you can’t fix regret for the chances you didn’t take when you were young.
Don't be blurry in life, please. Take the risk.
Trevor Noah said: “Rejection is an answer. Failure is an answer. But regret? Regret is an eternal question.” It’s true. Regret whispers, “What if? If only…” and you’ll never know the answer. Sit with that.
The photo for this post is actually of me before photographing the amazing gig by Kelley Suttenfield. I’ll share the photos soon. 😊
(Translated by ChatGPT, original by Thi Nguyen)