Eschewing Perfection

Perfection is the Enemy of Good
Looking for perfection is to insist on the total realization of a goal and to reject any compromise.
This decreases the chance of achieving even a part of that goal.
Many photographers are hung-up on the pursuit of technical perfection. They obsess over MTF charts and other measurable aspects of image quality. But, the pursuit of perfection is to worship a false god. Perfection is unattainable.

Street Kiss. Havana, Cuba. March, 2015
Rather than trying for perfection, the goal, and one that is attainable, is personal excellence. Excellence is not quantitative, it's qualitative. Excellence in photography is about having a vision – a desire to best oneself. This is accomplished by setting goals, preferably ones that are a bit beyond what one thinks is possible. Just as an athlete wants to run the 100 meter dash a fraction of a second faster than they every have before, so too does establishing a difficult, but attainable target for ones work.
Buying the sh...