This is something I wrote a while ago on another blog...and since it's photography related...here it is!I remember the first time I used my mom's camera, a Canon AE-1. It was grade 8 or 9, we had these career days where there were different sessions that you could sign up for. I signed up for photography. I had never really used a camera, other than those cheap plastic colored cameras you could get with your happy meal at McDonalds. We went to the park, and I took pictures of ducks, and geese. I remember being very happy. I had no idea what I was doing, but I liked doing it.
In high school I took every single photography/ visual arts class that was offered. I think it was 3 or 4 in total. I even received a visual arts award in Grade 12.
After high school, I stopped taking pictures. I don't know what happened.
I got a real job, went to UCFV, got married. It's when I had my baby boy, things got interesting again. Every parent loves pictures of their kid. I discovered this when he was born. My love of photography came back to me. I have thousands, upon thousands of pictures of this kid. He became my muse.
I always knew I was good at photography, and I know I have a good eye, but I have always been too hard on myself. I decided I wanted to start my own small business. I would offer, myself for people who wanted family pictures, maternity pictures, baby pictures. This was really hard for me to put myself out there...I've never been good at selling myself.
Within 2 days of me doing this, 2 other people I know decided to start their own photography business too. Gone went my business, gone went my prospects, gone went my confedience.
I had a hard time (and I still do) seeing these people who suddenly decided that they LOVE photography enough to start their own business because everyone tells them too...and that buying "a chunky camera" was what propelled them into the field. It's hard when it's something you have LOVED for years, and it's in your soul, and someone swoops in who is suddenly successful at something you have worked hard for...they didn't have to work at all.
I know I sound jealous.
I am.
I am working on being okay with this. And I think I am almost there. I read something the other day that was posted on Twitter from one of my FAVORITE photographer's,
Jonathan CanlasHe posted a
link to advice for aspiring photographer's...here are some of my favorite points:
- You don’t have to go into business just because people tell you you should! And you don’t have to be full time and making an executive income to be successful. If you decide you want to be in business, set your limits before you begin.
- Remember that if your work looks like everyone else’s, there’s no reason for a client to book you instead of someone else. Unless you’re cheaper. And nobody wants to be known as “the cheaper photographer”.
- Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive”. No one ever does.
And my favorite, something I really need to remind myself:
- Learn to say “I’m a photographer” out loud with a straight face. If you can’t say it and believe it, you can’t expect anyone else to, either.
I love "you will never 'arrive'. No one ever does"...It's such a good point. Everyone is diffrent. I know I will love photography until the day I die. I really believe my love of it comes across in my pictures, and maybe my journey is longer and harder than those two people, but that's okay too.
It's my journey, and I know where I am going.
