{"id":1952,"date":"2012-10-05T06:05:19","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T14:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/randyw.camiwp.com\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2016-03-18T11:59:26","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T19:59:26","slug":"randy-wells-photography-video-auto-racing-porsche-music-and-travel-reviews-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/?p=1952","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SEVEN DEADLY FEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fifth part in a creative process series on photography:<\/p>\n

Inner obstacles can keep an artist from doing their best. <\/em><\/p>\n

Many professional photographers encounter inner fears that can keep them from practicing their craft or marketing their work. Fortunately, there are ways to overcome these obstacles to growth. <\/p>\n

By acknowledging the presence of these fears and moving forward anyway, obstacles can be turned into opportunities. The resulting confidence can drive the photographer to higher accomplishments than he or she ever dreamed possible. These fears can take on many appearances, seven of which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to call the “Seven Deadly Fears:\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

1. Fear Of Not Having The Right Equipment: Everyone who strives to become a better photographer eventually realizes that simply owning the latest equipment isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough. Even if still photography has officially become a “devalued commodity”, nobody has come up with a “something to say” camera button. If you are deriving your major income from photography, you must constantly practice your craft by exploring the latest technology, then shooting and editing. To ensure that you keep working, budget time and money to projects that feature your unique voice.<\/p>\n

2. Fear Of Talent – Jealousy: The fear that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not talented enough or that there aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough rewards to go around is increasingly real to many photographers. One solution is to believe you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re worthy of reward if you just apply yourself. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be jealous of others. Instead, let their accomplishments be an inspiration to you. Choose your mentors, and know that if they can do it, it can be done. And please determine your rightful value – it could be much higher than you think. <\/p>\n

3. Fear Of Failure – Perfectionism: Perfectionism is a refusal to allow your self to move forward. Failure is not learning from experience. So, if you learn from your experience, you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t failed. But, until you try again, you may still be afraid of making a mistake. The legendary jazz musician, Miles Davis, once said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do not fear mistakes, there are none.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Whenever I find myself unwilling to try again, I think of Edward Weston\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beautiful print, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pepper #30.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s called #30 for a reason.<\/p>\n

4. Fear Of Beginning\/Finishing – Procrastination: If you get a great idea, you need to see it through to completion or it will keep nagging at you (until somebody else does it). Make a list of the projects you want to do, not what you have to do, and cross each of these off when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re done. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to put a deadline on it, just keep it on the list until you finish it. <\/p>\n

5. Fear Of Not Being Understood – Guilt\/Embarrassment: All artists are perceived as different. Be proud of that. Put your work out there and learn how to trust risk. There is no reason to be ashamed of your work early in your career. It may be just a beginning. Remember to remain true to yourself as you become more accomplished.<\/p>\n

6. Fear Of Not Being Approved Of – Caring What Others Think: This is a really big trap. You must be willing to try again (sometimes dozens of times). The real question is: What do you think? Do you accept yourself for who you truly are? If you do, then you are on the right path, and it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter what others think. Rejection is an everyday occurrence in this business. My definition of rejection is: One person felt the work submitted was inappropriate to what he or she actually needed at that time. <\/p>\n

7. Fear Of Success: Motivational speaker Deanne Delbridge once said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Success is what you give yourself; fame is what others give you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Which can be taken away and which can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t? As long as you believe you deserve success and lack nothing, you can be successful. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow self-sabotage to prove to yourself that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deserve success. Here are a few other common obstacles to growing as a photographer that you may want to consider.<\/p>\n

Labeling (The Judging Mind) – Learn to stop listening to your internal dialogue that feels compelled to continually judge, categorize, and label everything. Say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153next\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to these habitual negative judgmental thoughts, and eventually they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll stop. By becoming more illogical, more childlike, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll become more self-secure. <\/p>\n

Competition (Winners And Losers) – If there is only one winner, then all the rest must be losers, right? Of course not, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what many of us have been trained to believe. My belief is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay to enter competitions, just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t become attached to the outcome. <\/p>\n

Ego – Ego is an illusion of self-importance; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your social mask, which thrives on control and the approval of others because it lives in fear. Get rid of it (as much as possible anyway). Investing in ego is a tremendous drainer of energy. It indicates attachment to outcome based on the search for fame, power and\/or money, which brings us to…<\/p>\n

Burnout – Burnout is the result of working for the wrong reasons. The solution is hopefully by now a familiar one: Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be afraid of anything or what others think, and base your work on your love of doing it. If it feels wrong, it probably is. <\/p>\n

I hope these gentle reminders help you grow as a person and as a photographer to your fullest potential. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEVEN DEADLY FEARS The fifth part in a creative process series on photography: Inner obstacles can keep an artist from doing their best. Many professional photographers encounter inner fears that can keep them from practicing their craft or marketing their work. Fortunately, there are ways to overcome these obstacles to growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9160,"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions\/9160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randywells.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}