I know I’m not the only one.
Open up the folder and see for yourself. The proof is in there and I just bet that it’s lurking in your folders, too.
See it? Right there? Can you see 1.jpg?
But wait…what’s that? 1a.jpg? Yours might be named something slightly different, but I bet you it’s there.
Followed by 1b.jpg, 1c.jpg, and possibly even 1d.jpg and 1e.jpg.
One original edit followed by five slightly “better” edits of the same image.
But upon reopening them, it’s practically impossible to see any difference between them.
Is it possible that these five separate edits that I literally stayed up until 1:30am working on are all (practically) the same?
Well, yes. Yes they are.
I know that we have all been there. That we scrutinize and agonize over skin tones and white balance. That we smooth and sharpen and edit until we don’t even notice the gorgeous brand new baby / child / couple that is the subject of the photograph anymore. That all we can see are all the “imperfections” that we think are there. That we will post an image on facebook and as soon as it’s uploaded delete it quickly to re-edit and post again, hoping that it looks just slightly closer to “perfect” the second time around.
It’s a rut and too often we get stuck in it. Never feeling like we’ve gotten it–never looking at our own images and saying “Wow–I really nailed that!” but instead thinking, “Ugh…so-and-so’s sunflare / composition / exposure is so much better than mine. If only I were as good / talented / amazing as she is.”
We do it to ourselves and we unintentionally do it to our fellow photographers. I know how guilty I am of it. Not of blatantly putting others down, but not lifting them up and that’s where we fail. We fail in so many ways because this business is a “competition”. We isolate ourselves, we choose not to get to know other photographers in our area because after all, we’re “competing” for the same clients.
But we’re missing out. Missing out on amazing friendships, missing out on learning from one another, and who knows, maybe even missing out on a few referrals that could come our way. But most of all, we’re missing out on the encouragement that comes from shared experiences. There are some things that only a photographer understands. The passion. The frustration. The endless need to have a perfect edit before heading off to bed (at an obscene hour of the night / morning).
It’s time to change our job description. It needs to read: “My job is to take gorgeous images, to provide amazing customer service, and to uplift my fellow photographers.” And honestly, encouraging one another should be the easiest part of our job. Make it a goal to “like” at least 5 other photographer’s images on their facebook page each day. It may seem small to you, but I promise you it means something to the one who spent time perfecting that image to share with everyone. Leave one comment each day on someone’s blog. Be specific and tell them exactly what you love about their post. And send an email once a week to another photographer letting them know you admire them. I can’t tell you how much of a difference this can make to someone’s day. It seems that every time I’ve gotten an uplifting email it arrived at the exact time I was questioning my talent, abilities and drive. You never know what others are going through and how just one kind word can turn things around for them.
So let’s do it. Let’s lift one another up. Let’s encourage each other in our craft and help one another to stop second guessing our talent. And you know what? I bet as we do so, those five or more edits in your folder will turn into maybe just three or two. And maybe at some point we will finally be happy with just one edit. All because we have some amazing cheerleaders who let us know how awesome we really are.
{If you feel the same way I do and wanted to share, please feel free to do so I just ask that you link back to www.megansquires.com if you wouldn’t mind}
by Megan Squires
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