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.
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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.
Thanks Chase 🙂
thank you so much for this post Chase! this is the kind of encouragement i needed.
A-Frickin’-Men… I appreciate these words of yours today, most especially for having the balls to say it!! Thank you
Inspiration in three minutes or less.
(p.s. – please tell this to the hundreds of shooters in my area that will shoot everything and anything, but in reality are shooting *nothing*)
Cheers,
Sid
Amen. I was out of the commercial photography business for a few years because all of my Nikon bodies and lenses were destroyed by heat during a move to Arizona in a heatwave.
When I replaced my gear I decided to do the kind of photography I wanted. I now shoot Fine Art and stock images instead of the commercial work I had been doing. This allowed me to do the kind of shooting I loved, and not have the stresses of commercial assignments.
I like nothing more than taking my gear into the desert or forest and capturing the beauty and power of nature. Besides shooting the pretty things, I’m one of those crazy photographers who shoots forest fires, lightning, tornadoes and other forces of nature. I love it.
Have Fun,
Jeff