I found the name of that photographer (RIP), who lives in Florida and who taught. Also has a thing about quantity over quality. But his own site didn't specifically mention this anecdote. I've also read the pottery one.
I'd love to know if either are real and verifiable.
The lesson is most likely real and applicable either way.
The writers took the photo story and changed the words into a pottery story, to add some variety.
The photo story isn't the whole story.
Did the students know that the professor would also choose which were the best photos ?
The "quality" group were only required to produce one photo, but were they allowed to produce 100 photos?
If so, did the professor include all those photos when they chose which were the best photos ?
If not, did the professor look at a much larger sample of photos from the "quantity" group than the "quality" group to decide which were the best photos?
My experience with writing, music, and photography is that I get better results trying a bunch of different things rather than focusing on one or a few. The quality is still variable, but the hit rate is much higher. I can then switch to polishing a batch of hits rather than trying to turn a single idea into a hit.
I'd love to know if either are real and verifiable.
The lesson is most likely real and applicable either way.