Putting Yourself Out There - Showing Your Work
For me this was one of my biggest struggles when I was first starting out as a photographer and believe me it was an ongoing inner battle, I was nervous! What will other people think of my work? Will they say it sucks? Will they like it?
I was THAT guy who would only show my work to friends and family and of course the feedback was always good, which in hindsight was more of a hindrance than help when I look back on it now. Showing your work to your family and friends is one thing, they are not going to tell you your work sucks are they? They are going to say the things they think you want to hear which doesn’t benefit you in any way, shape or form.
It’s very tough to put yourself out there, seemingly on display and sharing your work with a bunch of strangers. You feel vulnerable, naked and alone! After all, this is something you created from scratch you put your heart and soul into this. Everybody is a critic, everyone has something to say. It takes a lot of courage. You are worried about being judged, what will everyone say about you’re work, I get it! You are going to get deflated and knocked down but you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and grab your camera and make more photographs.
You have to reach way down within and find the courage to get your work seen. Get as many eyes on it as possible! That way you find out what you need to work on and know which areas you need to improve. There will always be areas you can improve on even after years of being a photographer and just as in regular life you are NEVER EVER finished learning.
One of my past photography teachers reached out to me recently and we were talking and he said: “…as artists, we thrive on encouragement. It's like the tide, when it's in it feels good and when it’s out, it can be damn lonely!” His words rang in my head for days afterwards. This really struck a chord in me and if you are reading this right now, you know who you are. Thank you for all your words of encouragement as of late, they mean a lot to me.
So people don’t give up! Keep consistently putting your work out there. Yes, it is definitely not an easy thing to do but it IS necessary!
Photo courtesy of Linda Langerak