Enjoy The Process
February 21, 2020
When I first made the decision to put some real effort into making money as a photographer, I spent hours reformatting my Instagram landing page because I figured that was where I needed to stand out. However, when I started reaching out to close friends and contacts in my industry looking for work, they always wanted to know if I had a website. I said, “I have an Instagram…” They said, “Get a website!” So I made one, thought it looked pretty darn good, and I thought to myself, “Surely this is it. Surely my shiny, new website will attract clients. I just need to do the legwork, respond to lots of ads, promote my site, and wait for the gigs to start piling up!”
Photo by Bolen Gordon
Around this same time, I foolishly adopted this attitude that I wasn’t going to work with anyone unless they were going to pay me. No free work! I kept thinking, “My shots are legit! Everyone says so. Why shouldn’t I get paid?!” The problem, I realized, is that this attitude was keeping me from taking any photos at all. I was just sitting around thinking about how talented I am and waiting for the phone to ring (it didn’t) instead of actually going out and doing the thing that made me want to start down this path in the first place!
At a certain point, you just have to enjoy the process. The opportunity and ability to create - whether someone is going to pay you for it or not - has to be enough on its own. And although I don’t personally know this to be true, my gut is telling me that if I just keep doing what I’m doing, and sharing along the way, eventually that’s going to turn into the next opportunity, relationship, or whatever, and the process goes on.
So, after having all these thoughts and realizations, I decided to do something crazy: I posted an ad… on Los Angeles Craigslist… advertising free photo shoots. The response was overwhelming, but it wound up being a good thing because I was able to pick and choose the people I wanted to work with most. I think I found some good ones, too!
Starting next week, I’ll be writing about the people I meet and sharing the photos we take together. I hope you’ll follow along! Until then, whatever your thing is, keep doing it and always remember: Enjoy the process!