Recently there was a post on a forum that asked “Did You Ever Think You Could Be One of the the Best Photographers?”
And sadly, many responses were of the “No, I only want to be fairly good”, or “Well, those people are special”. Or simply a concern that it was hard – too hard – to be really good, even excellent. The view of many there was that being an excellent photographer was only for ‘special’ people, that it was simply unattainable by the mere mortal photographer.
Bullshit.
It is simply as hard as being the best in anything. Or as easy… depending on you appetite for work and your attitude about perseverance.
How does one hit a home run? You swing at the ball. And often you miss. There is certainly no guarantee that swinging will mean a homer, but there IS a guarantee that not swinging will NEVER end in a ball going out of the park.
There was once a young skater who wanted to be the best. She was very young. She worked very hard. It has been said that she was the first one on the ice in the morning and the last off at the end of the night. She fell more in a day than most ice skaters do in a week. Some folks said she was ‘special’ but all that was really special is that she worked her heart out.
There was a basketball player who had some pretty good moves, but not all that impressive when matched with taller, faster opponents. The coach of his first team noted that he was already on the court working out when the rest of the team came in and he was still practicing when the rest of the team was heading home. He kept practicing… and believing in his skill.
A young actor with nearly no experience wrote a screenplay about an ‘everyman’ who beats the odds and does the impossible. The studios told him they loved it and wanted to do it – with another actor. He responded “No, I wrote it for me and I am the actor.” The studio said they would pass. He told them that was fine and went home.
Not long after, they called and said, yeah, OK, they would reconsider. The young screenwriter breathed a sigh of relief for sure. He got to play the part.
A director had a purchased the rights to a book and was awaiting the greenlight from the studio who had been fronting him a ton of cash. At the very last minute the studio refused to greenlight the project – and wanted their money back. This was a power-play to force the director into relinquishing the rights to the movie because he couldn’t pay them back the money they had fronted him. Unfortunately it is a typical tactic in the hell-hole of Hollywood. The studio wanted the rights to the book, but had created a force-play that would get them what they wanted. And they had their own director in mind.
The director had less than a few days to get backing from someone else or he would have to give the rights to the studio. He talked to studio after studio and was turned down… until he had lunch with the head of NewLine Cinema who cut him a check for a couple million right there at lunch. The trades announced that NewLine had committed studio suicide with the untested director and the ambitious project that would “never be made.” It was too big a project for this nearly untested director, they said.
A photographer we all know loved shooting babies. She was simply enamored of shooting babies and it was all she wanted to do. She took her book to the big city and was told that there was no future in shooting babies, and that her work was a little cloying… perhaps she should branch out and shoot other things.
Tara Lipinski won Olympic Gold at 15.
Charles Barkely was one of Basketball’s greats.
Sylvestor Stallone made Rocky and a few dozen sequels.
“The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy was a huge success for director Peter Jackson – and NewLine
Anne Geddes makes millions shooting what she loves.
Can you be one of the greats?
Sure.
Maybe.
Talent.
Perseverance.
A Little More Talent.
Drive.
Vision.
Self Starter.
Self Motivated.
Self Aware.
Someone who others like to be around.
A Desire to do whatever it takes to succeed.
… And a work ethic that simply dwarfs the competition.
In fact, work ethic can trump talent (Kanye? Disney kids?)
(On second thought, forget talent if you got a lot of peeps with cash behind you, but we digress…)
There’s more, just make the jump.
Selina Maitreya Ad
Being able to juggle the good time and the bad times and saving when you should and spending when you shouldn’t and taking risks that are far far far above what most people will EVER risk… that will get you to the first rung. It is terrifying, thrilling, depressing, exhilarating and downright effin fun being a photographer. But it is also a lot of hard work. Work we generally don’t see on all those glitzy BTS videos with the music and the models and the lights… yeah. It’s all like that.
Except for the other 90% which simply isn’t.
What I see a lot of is the “will this be on the test?” mentality in young shooters. Even on forums (yeah, seriously) there will be questions that practically say “I really don’t have time to do this and learn it, can you guys simply tell me how to do this without me having to read and actually LEARN stuff?”
Will this be on the test?
Just think what that question is actually saying… how little do I have to work and learn to ‘get by’.
Of course there is a bit of luck, and there are some realities. I once had a friend tell me they wanted to be a Country & Western singer (and he had the chops and the looks) so he was going to move…
…
… to Denver.
I would have thought maybe, uhhh, Nashville?
If you want to shoot fashion, there is a little island just east of New Jersey. It is called Manhattan. It is where you have to live… at least for a while.
“I want to be a fashion shooter so I am moving to…
a. Memphis.”
b. New York.”
c. Dayton.”
d. Phoenix.”
Which would you choose? If you really wanted to be a fashion photographer that is.
Is it easy? NO. Of course not. Was it supposed to be?
Is it all something that just anybody can do? Yes.
… And …
No… and I think the biggest problem is fear. Fear.
Fear is what makes someone ask “Will this be on the test?”
Fear stops us from going one more step to make it even better.
Fear keeps us making the safe shots instead of pushing to the limits with the possibility of failure.
Fear makes us timid about possibilities and forces us to keep to the path well traveled.
Fear keeps us happy being mediocre.
Fear challenges our ideas of what we can do, and too many times we let it win, or call it a draw.
The people who astound us, who make it look easy, who challenge the status quo and simply destroy it have found a way to kick fear’s ass. Hard. Sure, they may be anxious, or get a little queezy before the match… but they get in the ring and level fear’s butt till it no longer has a voice. You see, fear has no more power than what we allow it to have.
If we allow it to be a part of our creative lives, we also must know how to tame it and keep it in its place. And yes, fear does have its place when it makes sure we don’t screw up or make bad decisions. But when it keeps us from swinging the bat, fear is a liability.
Hank Aaron held the home run record for a long, long time.
He also held the strike-out record for a long, long time.
Did you know that?
If you don’t swing, you will never hit the ball.
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Thanks for coming along today. Workshop News:
Cincinnatti
Raleigh
Norfolk
Florida
That’s it for this year. Next year is not written, but it will be a far different year for our workshop – and a whole new approach to workshopping. For information on the remaining workshops this year, see Learn to Light. To follow me on Twitter is an adventure… heh.
This article was revised and reprinted from an article I did earlier in the summer.
Photo unattributed.
Great article,Don! Motivating!
At first I was saddened by the attitudes you describe in the opening, but then actually a little relieved because it will mean less competition in the future. There’s just no shortcut to learning or mastering anything.
Great post again Don. I recently read “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-New-Psychology-Success-ebook/dp/B000FCKPHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284648869&sr=1-1
It goes into all kinds of research that really just backs up your point. No one is born to do anything really, those that work hard get to be the best. They all sucked when they started, they just outworked everyone one else.
The last part of your post makes me think of a book I read recently, “The War of Art”. It’s a quick read but mirrors a lot of what you said about fear is what holds you back.
Thanks John.
Fear is the biggest thief of time and talent and success.
And most of the time it is unfounded, or blown so far out of context that the fear becomes the overriding element in all we do.
And when the thing we fear most never happens, the damage done is often devastating and debilitating.
A really wonderful post Don. Even those of us who have been doing this for a long time to let the fear or trying new things, starting out again or heading in a new direction hold us back. Sometimes as artists it’s hard to remember that we’re in this for the art, not just the irregular paycheck.
Yeah, but, Don, in your last video chat, aren’t you the one who said, “You can’t do fashion in Kansas City”?
In other words, suppose the thing for which I have the passion and drive to do my best work covers too narrow a slice of demand to let me pursue it at my highest possible level? Tongue-in-cheek example: even the best photographer of dog turds in the Western World may have trouble finding a market no matter how hard he works… then what does he do?
(PS – I still suspect it’s possible to do fashion in Kansas City… it just may not be possible to get FAMOUS for doing fashion in Kansas City!)
I also state that it may not be easy. If one wants to shoot fashion, it would be incumbent on them to move. That is simply part of it. If a shooter wants to do a little fashion with other things, then Kansas City would be great. But, I do not know of any fashion magazines that come out of Kansas City. There are several catalogs shot in KC, but, as any fashion photographer will tell you… that ain’t fashion.
“…even the best photographer of dog turds in the Western World may have trouble finding a market no matter how hard he works…”
Probably true, but you should check out Flickr more often.
I don’t guarantee success… quite the opposite. There is NO guarantee for action. But there IS a guarantee for inaction.
Results either way may be the same, but there is more of a chance of being ready when the New York art world decides the “Poo” shots are all the rage, than still sitting there without any poo shots.
Never a guarantee. Never said that it could just happen. If I wanted to shoot fashion – exclusively – NY, Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo and Mumbai are the destinations.
If I want to shoot cute chicks in nice dresses… yeah, I can do that most anywhere.
Thanx WIZWOW,
I needed to hear that this morning…..
Along with fear, I have let the idea of not meeting other persons standard of what a good photograph is lead me into the not picking up my camera and taking more pictures.
Trust me when I say I have been on the verge of just selling everything….
I have had experiences of clients not been pleased with me, telling me that they know other photographers who would have done better, who think that I am not that good to be charging a certain amount, so called friends who bad mouth me behind my back and the list goes on…
So thanks again for this article, It really motivated me. As a matter of fact I think I am going to read it couple more times before the day is done..
“Trust me when I say I have been on the verge of just selling everything….”
Don’t. Just don’t.
Keep shooting and shooting and shooting.
“…had experiences of clients not been pleased with me…”
Yep. Been there. Can’t please everyone… you just can’t.
“…telling me that they know other photographers who would have done better…”
Yikes! I am not partial to idiotry and would have probably kicked their sorry asses out of my studio. That kind of behavior is beyond rude, it is simply hostile.
Solution: Find better clients. Seriously… they are out there.
“…so called friends who bad mouth me behind my back…”
And while you are looking for better clients, find better friends. I never confront, I simply write them off. I am a very loyal person. They can choose to be my friend or not. And it may not be a terribly good trait for anyone, and it is not something I am proud of, but there are NO second chances with me. I am happy to accept an apology, but that in no ways means I will ever go back to trust and friendship. I find it nearly impossible.
So, don’t necessarily follow my lead there, but do make sure that you find people who are not going to be shit… Ya know.
Oh, and stop hanging around with photographers. Seriously.
If ‘buds’ out there are badmouthing your photography, it is because they suck… so hang out with musicians and writers… and art directors.
Well, that’s why I’m in this game. I know I’m good and I’m longing to be one of the best.
Thanks for this post and the motivation it generates.
Like Joe McNally said a while back
“Like I say, ya gotta have fun doing this, otherwise there’s no point to it, ’cause if you don’t have an absolute love affair with photography, it’s just too hard and frustrating to keep doing. I try to accept success and failure in equal and unequal measure, because if you stick with it, you know what the reward is?
You get to do it again”
Ha! For the past few years I have had a sheet of paper pinned up to the wall next to my bathroom window with a series of things /sayings to keep in mind on a day to day basis. One of them is:
“You can’t win if you don’t play. And if you don’t play, you have already lost — to yourself.”
Loved every word! : )
Don:
Great post – but I think I liked hearing the discussion from your other followers even more… If I could, I’d love to sit down and BS with all of you about the photo business over a couple of beers.
Best!
Brian