Here’s a sure-fire way to blow your career in photography: 
1. Take lots of photos.
2. Get on twitter.
3. Start a blog.
4. Assist for another photographer.
5. Buy a better camera.
6. Create a “style” that’s all your own.
7. Hire an intern.
8. Get an agent.
9. Do behind-the-scenes videos.
10. Get a studio.
11. Franchise your business.
12. Live off your stock library.
13. Sell your prints.
14. Get some gear sponsors.
15. Teach workshops.
16. Do a book.
Now you’re confused.
Ok, so my point is NOT to avoid doing any of the things on the above list – there are lots of good things in there. My point is that old recipes die hard. And guarantees are few and far between.
By following some old-model plan for how to be a photographer, a filmmaker, a creative whatever, you’re surely doomed. Because there isn’t one anymore. If you’re not……actively looking for a way to differentiate, to blaze your own path, to nuke the mold, your chance of survival is slim and your chance of raging success is even slimmer.
Can I not focus on 1 particular field and still blow it? Not really relevant?
This is a brilliant post, Chase. I’m in this weird danger zone where the better I get with the craft, the more I feel like “I’ve got this sucker licked!” It’s hard to keep engaged in the journey when fighting that feeling, when I watch myself turning a successful experiment into a yet another gimmick in the tickle trunk.
And yet, the world is opening as I embark on new relationships, new challenges, new ideas. I keep a watchful eye for new directions, new places for, not just my creativity, but my personality.
Exploration is not a sure way — it’s merely the only way.
definitely though but some of the steps require some modals 😀
It’s confusing days to be a professional photographer. Marketing in the same old way doesn’t really work the same as it did… it’s interesting to see how some of the really old school people, both photographers and reps, are really struggling to understand how their business model has changed around them. But the one thing that never changes…. really great photography is what it’s all about. If you don’t have the images nothing you do is gonna make a difference.