Want to know why you’re not achieving work that you love, so stay tuned because we’re going to dive into this now.
Here are the TOP 5 Reasons Why You’re Not Achieving Photo Work That You Love that I constantly hear from the THOUSANDS of photographers that I’ve helped and HOW TO FIX THEM. So let’s fix this today and help you move forward!
REASON #1: Being A Perfectionist
I’m gonna get real here. I understand about wanting to create work and make it so perfect that you’re excited to share it with the world. Here’s the problem when you’re a perfectionist, you’ll never move forward because you’re too embarrassed to show your work.
You want everything perfect before it goes out and it doesn’t help you at all when you are competing with yourself. That’s what you’re doing – you’re competing against yourself.
So what happens is you consume more than you produce. It’s so true. You consume tutorials, you consume workshops, you consume books; more than making work on your own and it’s because you want it perfect.
When it should be the flip side. Making more work than consuming more learning material because what happens is you grow. If you’re going to play a sport, you need to learn how to play that sport well. It’s the same for photography, if you want to create photographic work that you love then you need to learn to create. And learning is by doing.
So you build a structure within your brain and your hands. To work with your eyes, to work with your senses, and to work with the equipment in order to make the work that you love.
Okay here’s the next reason.
REASON #2: You Are Comparing Yourself To Others
It happens all the time. It is so easy to be in this trap and it really is a trap because if you’re comparing yourself to the photographers that you love then you will always feel horrible about your work and you will not move forward.
First of all, you never make anything with a focus and what does that mean that means is that you’re not focusing on your own passion because you’re focusing on the other photographer’s passion because you like their work.
Which is fine you love their work, it’s great to be inspired by them but when it starts taking you back and you’re like “oh my work isn’t good enough” then it’s time to stop and really just photograph what you love and then move forward on with that where, yes, it’s about you and not caring about anything else.
So my remedy to this is to stop social media for one week and have the thick skin to say “this is about what I love and I’m going to do my best to make the work that I love.”
All right this is the truth, you ready for the next one?
REASON #3: “I Don’t Have Time”
You don’t take time because you say “I don’t have the time”. Well, guess what? We all have the same time. We have 24 hours out of our life within one day. I know what you’re saying “oh the other photographers, they’re full time and they can do this.”
Well, I want you to know something about me. Before I became a full-time professional, I got up in the morning and worked on my photography. I went to work full time. I raised children, I was a wife and I came home and I worked on my photography.
You can find the time when you use a calendar. Yes, I’m telling you, you’ve got to use a calendar. Okay so with that said, how do you do it?
Let me just tell you real quick.
It’s really really easy when I put in my calendar that on Saturday at 11 a.m I’m going to photograph some dandelions for two hours with water drops. I’m going to do that. You cannot be vague about what you’re going to say and do when it comes to scheduling.
In time, you can’t just say I’m just going to photograph on Saturday. No, no, no, no. It will not work and you will fail. And you know what I do next when I’m going through my month? I’m like okay, what else is happening in my life? Well, you know what? I think on Wednesday night I’m free. So what’s Janice gonna do? I’m going to schedule in to post-process those images and you can do this.
Set the time to post-process and set the time to make the work.
The next reason why you’re not moving forward and is straight to the fact.
REASON #4: You’re Trying To Do This On Your Own
I went to college for art with an emphasis on photography so I could get help. With that said if you don’t want to go to college, you need to find a mentor. Yes, that’s what I do but I’m not saying you have to use me. You got to find somebody because what happens is the mentor will look at your work and be able to find what you’re good at.
First of all, they’re going to know what you enjoy, what kind of photographs you want to take but then they can take you to the next level because they will see your strong points and they will see your weaknesses.
This way the weaknesses crumble up and you can throw it in the trash and the only way you’re going to do that is working with a professional or somebody that really knows how to teach but is really good and straight to the point.
“This is what you’re doing really well.”
“This is what it needs some work on, let’s move you forward here.”
A mentor is a ticket. You can do it by yourself but it’s just going to take a lot longer to get to where you want to be.
Let me know down below what is stopping you from sharing your work with others.
So for my last tip on why you’re not making work that you totally love is because many photographers probably think that it’s all about the equipment.
REASON #5: It’s All About The Equipment
You probably have heard, it’s not about the equipment. But at the same time, you also think… you have a good lens and you have a good camera. That is so true because when it comes to your equipment, it is important you need equipment for your style of photographing but that’s it.
That’s why when you see my essential macro tool kit, those are pieces that if you grab some of those tools you will be able to make beautiful macro photography. You do not need tons of stuff because what happens is once you have your tool, your camera, your lens, maybe you want a focus stack tripod. Once you have just those, you don’t need anything else
Just relax. Don’t buy the next goodie because you want to hone in on your photographic craft with the tools that you have because the truth is composition and exposure is like the main thing to learn then it’s post-processing and creating work that only you want to create.
Next, equipment is fun. I have tons of equipment but I just want you to know that will not make or break how you love your photography. Now that you know what to do to step out of your comfort zone.
Let’s make it easy for you macro photographers by downloading my ultimate (and yes) essential macro photography toolkit to get your hands on my top macro photography creation resources to make your next image spectacular so you can create work faster without the guesswork.
The link is here, let’s push you out even further, would you like to be part of our private Facebook group? This is for adventurous macro photographers. I jump on live every Tuesday to answer your questions on macro photographing, lighting, post-processing, equipment and selling your work. Join us here.
Always remember that your thousand words do make a difference.
Cheers,
Janice
