Being Comfortable is not Always a Good Thing.

After more than 50 years behind the camera, it’s easy to believe you’ve settled into your lane, especially when it comes to lighting. You develop instincts that work, refine techniques that deliver, and build a workflow that feels efficient and predictable. But there’s a quiet danger in that comfort. Growth doesn’t happen there.

That’s why continuing education still matters, maybe even more once you’ve been doing this for decades.

I was reminded of that firsthand at the Great Lakes Institute of Photography last week, a weeklong workshop where I chose to step back into the role of student. I enrolled in Sculpting with Light, taught by Kiati Plooksawasdi, and it didn’t take long before I realized I had underestimated just how much I could still learn.

What made the experience different wasn’t just the technical instruction. It was the intentional push outside of my comfort zone.

For most of my career, my work has centered around commercial and product photography, controlled environments, precise lighting, repeatable results. This class challenged that mindset by encouraging exploration into areas of imaging I hadn’t seriously pursued before, including boudoir photography.

That shift alone forced me to rethink how I approach light.

Boudoir demands a different sensitivity, less about technical perfection and more about mood, shape, and subtlety. Light becomes more than illumination; it becomes emotion. It has to flatter, reveal, conceal, and guide the viewer all at once. That’s not something you can approach on autopilot.

And that’s where the real breakthrough happened.

The core concept of “sculpting” with light, building dimension intentionally, layering highlights and shadows with purpose, completely reframed how I approached the subject. Techniques I had either overlooked or dismissed in the past suddenly made sense in a new context. I wasn’t just lighting a subject; I was shaping an experience.

It was uncomfortable at times. And that’s exactly why it worked.

Stepping into a genre I hadn’t explored forced me to abandon my old patterns and rely on observation, experimentation, and instinct in new ways. It exposed gaps in my thinking, not in a negative sense, but in a way that made growth possible again.

Throughout the class, I took what I had learned and applied it to create a new piece of work. Different subject matter. Different intent. Same foundational skills but used in ways I hadn’t considered before. We were blessed to work with a crew of Dancers on Thursday and I took full advantage.

The result was a finished image that was, without question, stronger than anything I had produced previously.

Not because I lacked experience before, but because I had been operating within boundaries I didn’t even realize I had set.

That’s the real value of continuing education. It doesn’t just give you new tools, it challenges the limits you’ve unconsciously placed on yourself. It pushes you into unfamiliar territory where you have to think differently, see differently, and create differently.

And that’s where meaningful progress happens.

If you’ve been in photography for any length of time, it’s worth asking: are you still learning, or are you just repeating?

Because sometimes the biggest leap forward doesn’t come from refining what you already do well. it comes from stepping into something you’re not entirely comfortable with and discovering what you’re actually capable of.

I walked into that classroom with 50+ years of experience. I walked out reminded that experience alone isn’t what keeps you evolving.

Curiosity does.