Overcoming Your Fears As A Photographer
Sometimes my inner voice is a b*tch! There. I said it.
My inner voice has a tendency to tell me all of the things I can't do versus all of the things I can do. Does anyone else's do that too?
Why is it so easy to believe the bad stuff about yourself and so, so hard to believe the good?
As artists I sometimes think we may have it the worst. So much of what we do is creating something. We are opening ourselves up to the world and showing them our version of how we see something.
Is it the same thing that everyone else sees? Usually not but that's why we're hired. Because we 'see' something they don't. It's a very vulnerable place to be doing business from and as such we can get stuck in a place of inactivity due to fear.
Here are some of the fears I've held (and sometimes still have to beat back). I hope that by addressing them here you won't feel so alone and that you'll realise that these fears don't have to stop you.
Fear #1: My Work Sucks
This is a biggie. There are times that I stare at a photo I've taken and all I can think is that it's terrible. The composition is off, the lighting is overblown and there is no story. In fact, sometimes I feel that way about an entire session that I've shot. I'll put off culling the images because I feel like I haven't gotten any good shots from the session and I can't face it just yet.
Have any of you felt that way? Like you want to crawl into bed with the covers over your head because you've failed yourself and your client? You haven't gotten photos that are any good and you don't know how you'll face them? You start to mentally prepare for the conversation you'll have to have with them. Should you offer them a discount? Offer to re-shoot their session? Count it as a total loss and just wait for the bad reviews to come rolling in?
Maybe it's just me. I have quite an active imagination and usually I'm envisioning the worst case scenario and trying to solve it in my head before I've even looked at the photos from the session.
When I start to feel that way and am envisioning the worst case scenario I often need to give myself a quick swift kick up the arse, tell myself to put on my big girl pants and go look at my photos before I sentence myself and my business to death.
In essence, I tell my inner voice to 'suck it' and go back to my job. I load the photos on the computer and take a look. And surprise, surprise, what I usually find is that the photos are fine.
Usually I'm surprised and discover that I have, in fact, gotten some good photos. In fact, there are a lot more keepers than I thought that I had and while some may not be my best work, the rest are more than presentable for the client.
And the ones that aren't, delete them! Problem solved. You are the artist. You get to decide what images you share with your client.
In fact, you are doing them a disservice if you don't get rid of the bad photos. They are paying you good money to get great photos of themselves. Why would you feel obligated to keep a bad one? That makes no sense. Make the selection process easier on your client and on you and only give them the best of the best.
And that imagined scenario in your head where you suck and have been run out of business? Kick it to the curb where it belongs. Realise everyone is going to have off days, including you, but if you're only listening to your inner critic you'll never get anything accomplished.
Fear #2: So and so's work is so much better than mine
If you're thinking of starting your own business than as part of your planning process you should have done a competitor analysis where you looked at your competitors, analysed their website, offerings, social media etc. This is done to try to find your place in the market, understand your competitors, work out what makes you different etc. (You should not be the type of photographer that goes there to copy other people's ideas and work. Don't be that guy. It's just yucky and no way to run a business)
Even if you haven't done an extensive analysis, at the very least, you've checked out their sites and social media accounts. When we're just starting out it's natural to be curious about what's already out there and where you can hope to fit in the market. It's totally normal and something we've all done. I promise. However, sometimes a problem pops up after we've done that.
The problem is when you can't stop visiting these sites. You can't help yourself from following their social media accounts. You devour their blog posts and you lament over the fact that your photos don't look anywhere near as good as theirs do.
You spend all your time obsessing over them and what you can try to do to get your photos to look like that.
And the problem with that? Other than the fact that it's a hole that you could dig forever and never see the other side of? Other than the fact that it's completely destructive to your self esteem?
Well, the main problem comes from the fact that when you spend all your time comparing yourself to others, you stop growing yourself.
You stop doing all the things that could actually grow your skills and instead focus on what you are doing wrong, instead of what you could be learning to get better.
See the difference? One is a negative, destructive place that won't get you any further in your business and could potentially stop you completely and the other is a place where you are permitted to grow and learn.
Which would you rather be?
If you decide on the latter option, and I highly recommend it, then for your own sake, STOP FOLLOWING YOUR COMPETITORS. Unfollow them from on Facebook and Instagram. Refuse to let yourself visit their websites. JUST STOP! You'll thank me for it later.
Speaking of following your competitors. That leads me to the next fear…
Fear #3: Why would someone pay me when they could go to (insert your competitor's name here)?
I've definitely felt this way when I researched my competitors. There is one in particular who I am in awe of. Her work is A-MA-ZING!! It's so amazing that I felt it needed 3 syllables to indicate it's amazingness (avert your eyes spelling bees, I know that's not a word but it's staying).
It's hard not to compare my work with hers and realise I am nowhere near her level.
Yet.
That's an important distinction we sometimes forget. When we are viewing a highly established photographers work and dismally coming up short, we need to remember that we are viewing their middle.
I'll repeat, this is their middle. You are not viewing their work from when they first started. You're not viewing their work from the same place where you are now.
I think we all forget that we start at the same place and just because someone is there ahead of you doesn't mean that you suck and should just give up now. It's just means when need to learn more, practice more, grow more.
And as to worrying that no one will hire me when they could hire her? Well, it's up to you. I could spend my days worrying about what someone else is doing and how I could compete with them or I could spend my days working out how to reach my ideal audience, how to market better and increase my skills.
I could focus on what I do differently from my competitor and what I do better and build on those, all while increasing my skills in the other areas too. It's not a one size fits all scenario. There's room for both of you.
Buying from someone isn't a one sided transaction anymore. People like to buy from people they know, like and trust. If you can convey this is your website copy, through your conversations and emails with potential clients then you will be hired.
Will everyone hire you instead of her? No, of course not. But you don't need everyone to. You just need some.
Don't let what someone else is doing dictate what you do. That's the fastest way to lose your creativity and burn out in the process.
And when you get stuck in the mindset of comparing yourself to everyone else, remember: This is their middle and don't let it paralyse you from going forward to achieve your 'middle'.
Who knows, someone who just picked up a camera could be looking at your work, right now, thinking that you're A-MA-ZING and wondering how they could ever get there.
Now get on out there. You've got this.
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