Visit any photography forum, and you’ll see tons of ‘what would you do’ questions. How would you light this, how would you respond to this client, how would you react to this situation…but I want to go a bit bigger today.
What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
What would you be shooting if money/success/fame/family worries were all taken care of? You have everything you want in life, and a camera. Where do you go? What are you photographing?
Now go. Begin. Start shooting the work of your dreams. Light that basketball while pretending Nike is your client; romp with the dog imagining Purina waiting on the line; shoot lifestyle as if Gap, Abercrombie, and J. Crew are fighting to have you. Let your dreams fly right through your lens, and see what turns up.
For me, the dream is shooting pets and people with film. I was literally jumping up and down when my shiny new (to me) F5 body arrived. The tones and feeling film renders can’t be duplicated in Photoshop, and the easy workflow — shoot, drop off at lab, pick up at lab, done — is ideal for being able to continue my work with this blog and with the Totally Rad Actions. For the reason I’m tiptoeing into the world of film, read this Totally Rad Actions blog post. (Hermione D. Granger and the ever-patient MattMatt pictured in these frames.)
But my dream isn’t your dream, so copying it would be silly. Would you like to shoot with vintage cameras, or stay digital? Shoot billboards? Paint your photos using fancy software or actual paint? Would you like to learn studio lighting or try out a new genre of photography? Would you like to work on personal projects a bit more?
What’s stopping you?
If you can identify what’s holding you back — fear, lack of organization, timecrunches, more fear, resentment, boredom, overscheduling yourself — you’re on the way to making time for your vision to come through. Pretty please, make time for it this week.
For the most part I am shooting what I want to shoot. I have connected with people that will help me shoot what I want to shoot. BUT I want to be paid what I deserve. After using Easy as Pie to price myself right, after reading a few business books, after changing my social circle, after blogging regularly, updating my site regularly, smiling til it hurts, dropping off biz cards with local places I frequent, what do I do next? Seriously, I’m started already so what next. (Arms stretched out yelling WHAT NOW????)
The waiting is the hardest part. Tom Petty. Download it from iTunes. Listen to it while continuing to do everything you’re doing. Keep putting yourself out there! It’ll happen!
Wow…what a question. Should I cry now or later?
For me, I’d be shooting newborns and little ones. I just adore that time of life. Unfortunately, bills still have to be paid so for now my day job is still in the way.
What if you didn’t view it as in the way and viewed it as a positive? I don’t *have* to be photographing newborns, so I get to *choose* who I work with, and when, and how much I charge…;)
I often ask myself this question. I think the core of the answer always goes to: people. I want to photograph people, learn more about them. So I am glad I get to photograph lovely clients (I’m still a newbie with a day job, though woot!)
Thanks for this post
also, fab tones you have in those photos. I am shooting with film once again (I guess that’s another of my “what would I rather be doing” answers, too!)
Techie question: what scanner did you use to scan your film? Currently on a hunt for a great one.