When I talk to creators and survey the industry landscape, I see a zillion creators trying to have all their work liked by all the people. This comes from our social animal DNA, but it’s the completely wrong approach to success – whether that be measured by your work being licensed, sold, etc, or by getting hired, shown, talked about, displayed, whatever.
Simply said, by trying to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one, especially not yourself.
But fear not (or fear less, perhaps). The answer is simple.
1. Shoot what you love.
2. Relentlessly share that work.
3. Repeat.
People can smell whether you love what you’re shooting or not, love what you’re promoting or not, love what you’re doing or not. So you might as well effing love it for real. It’s all you’ve got.
Listen to the Podcast
Subscribe
So quit with your shifty eyes, looking at what everybody else is doing. And do your own shiznit. Yes this means you. If your work is priced…… appropriately, be it fine art, commercial, editorial, wedding, whatever, all you need is 10-50 people each year to dig what you make. That’ll come from doing what you love, and that will make for a great year. Of all the damn people you have access to with the innernets, there are 50 people with money who like what you do. Of the 1000 or 10,000,000 who look at your site, your book, your whatever, those “likers” can be a pretty low percentage. Bet on it.
and one day they will like what they see.!
What a great article – and so timely – at least for me. I am just beginning to realize that I have been doing exactly what you’re talking about, and as a result, my love and passion for photography has suffered from it. I don’t make my living with photography – I started doing it on the side because I enjoyed it so much. But before I knew it, I was accepting every kind of job that came my way, including weddings! I recently decided to stop pursuing photography jobs that I don’t enjoy because, quite frankly, it shows in my work. When I enjoy what I’m photographing I can come up with some pretty good stuff, but when I don’t, its pretty mediocre and it eats away at my self-confidence. Go figure, eh?
Anyway, thank you for vocalizing something that I have been struggling with and providing me with some validation that the changes that I am making with my approach to photography are exactly the right thing to do.
Love it, Chase.
i need to start liking my work myself before i can expect anybody else to like it.
Boom! True. Also, helps to be as good at shooting what you love as you are. But I know, that’s not your point.