So we are steadily coming up on the 1 year anniversary of me being a full-time photographer. There is something liberating and terrifying about being 100% dependent on your craft to care for you and your child. I have learned a lot things and for those interested in doing this for a living, here are a few things I learned personally this year. 1. You will fluctuate between broke and doing very well many times but the important thing is you keep your money tight to you, save in the good times and weather the storms. Your pay is in your hands and you must HUSTLE to make more. 2. When people tell you something like your work sucks, is terrible, is weak, or is just bad... it probably is. I look back at all of the work I did a year ago and most of it is a lot worse than I thought it was. You are too close to your own work as a creator to see it objectively. I would get bent out of shape when someone said something negative about my work. I was wrong. This is why it is important to keep a group of trusted PEERS around you that have proper training to evaluate your product. Peers dont have to be fans of your work. Your family and friends are biased. Your facebook fanpage is mostly wrong. The models you are shooting mostly dont know a good photo from a bad one as they only like the way the look in it. Listen to the right people. 3. Dont listen to anyone. LOL. I know what I just said. Let me clarify. Take everything everyone says at face value in regards to criticism and critique and recognize that it is there to help you grow but keep on your path of growth undeterred. You must have goals and push yourself to meet those goals whether creative or technical despite how much it hurts in the short term. Focus on improving and never give up. People will tell you to give up. People will tell you that you will fail. Dont listen to them. Use it as motivation. I was told directly I would be a failure. I am still here. 4. Experiment... a lot. The only way we grow is to try new things, events, or angles. Repeating the same thing takes you nowhere. Branch out. Work with new people. Dont be afraid to mess up or produce a bad image. You have to write 1000 bad songs before you find your style and create that hit tune. If you fear failure you will never grow. 5. Recognize that the gap between reality and expectations is huge and you must always work to close that gap with everyone you work with. 6. Understand that most of the people you encounter will only find you valuable as long as they can find you useful. This is not a negative. This is business. 7. Know your market and play to its strengths until you can impact the market so heavily that you change the market to what you want. 8. Lean on people and invest in good people. Talent breeds talent. Surround yourself with good people who inspire you and work as hard as you. 9. Know your value. Look at your value. Understand your Value. Nothing you do is free. Every time you work it costs you something. Invest wisely. Nothing is Free. Even trade shoots cost everyone something. Digest this. 10. Be prepared to fail, stand up, fail, stand up fail and then stand up again. In this next year, I aim to improve my work and close the gaps in my knowledge as well as skill set. Thank you to everyone who has taught me something and supported this endeavor with your money, criticisms, love, hateful words, raw feedback, laughter and competition.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:51:11 +0000
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