Recently, I wrote a brief post on my blog that was titled, Create For Yourself, which serves as the impetus for this story. Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my own growth as a photographer and, to a broader extent, as a creator. This introspection invariably led me to look at how others qualify growth for themselves. More specifically, I began analyzing what people are doing to grow and how they measure their success towards that. A lot of what I found felt troubling and resulted in me re-evaluating my own benchmarks. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became until the other morning, when it dawned on me that so much of what I thought I was doing to contribute to my self-growth was actually just applying a candy-coated glaze meant to appease others around me.
I recently had a really nice conversation with Photofocus’ own, Melissa Niu, and during our chat, she asked me one of the all-time great existential questions: “What do you want for yourself?” It’s such a simple and straightforward question and yet I stumbled as I thought about it. Of course, at a high level, I know what I want for myself: to create. But the more I thought about it, the more granular the answer became and it was through this process of self-auditing that I realized what I had been doing, from the photos I posted to the the way I wrote, was squarely aimed at maximizing your attention. It became less about putting forth my creations in a natural way and more about tuning and timing my work for maximum Likes, +1s, Comments, and Reshares. I was jockeying my work to all of you in a way that stunted my true creative process and it finally caught up with me in a wave of self-loathing and self-doubt.
So, why am I sharing all of this with you now? It is because of what I’ve seen through my analysis of others and their own growth. What I found was that I was not alone, not by a long shot. I found that most everyone hitched their own growth as photographers to the same wagon as I had and this must stop. There is great tragedy with correlating your personal growth or the success of your photo to arbitrary measurements (read: Likes, +1s, Comments, Reshares). I will never forget what a former friend once told me when I expressed how much I liked one of the photos that he shared. He said, “yeah, but it didn’t get as many Likes as this other photo”. It was one of the sadder things that I’d ever heard a creative person say to me.
In the wake of all this, I began thinking about what I need to do to ensure true growth around what I want for myself: as a photographer, as a writer, as a creator. What I found are three lessons that are so straight forward, they really smacked me in the face. Essentially, self growth requires discipline, detachment, and mentorship.
- Discipline is probably the most important ingredient in growing yourself. You have to want it with such laser-tuned drive that nothing else can prevent you from it. Passive pursuit is great if you are looking for a hobby or past time but real growth comes from infusing discipline so that every free minute is allocated to the study, practice, and execution of your goal.
- Detachment is a product of what brought to me this point in the first place. It is why I am writing this article. In order to grow, you have to detach yourself from the fleeting saccharine high of social media engagement. You have to detach yourself from the idea that more followers, more views and more likes equals more success. You must also detach yourself from the emotional responses of positive comments and negative criticism, which is a perfect segue to my third and final lesson.
- Mentorship is a special bond between you and another individual who shares the same interest in your pursuit of growth. It is a humbling relationship that requires total trust and is filled with brutal honesty. I cannot recommend enough the importance of finding a mentor who you can pour all of your creative energy into and who, in turn, will help you distill it down to its purest form. I’ve been very fortunate to have some amazing mentors in my past and I realize now that it’s time to find a new one.
Once you are true to your creative process and purge yourself of the need for the admiration of others, then you can begin down the path of self-growth. The key is to keep reminding yourself of what you are doing, how you’re doing it, and who you’re doing it for.
Brian Matiash is a Portland-based published photographer and author. He is a member of Sony’s Artisans of Imagery as well as the Global Photos Products Evangelist for Google.
To find out more about Brian’s work, click HERE.
I can so relate to this article and am right there with you. You and other readers may be interested in reading an exceptional book I read recently, pretty much on the same subject and so thought provoking–that being A Beautiful Anarchy by David Duchemin (through Amazon and at David’s website). I hope that we all get to this point in our thinking and realize that our own growth (both creative and otherwise) should be based on the personal preferences, emotions and goals that we have inside of ourselves and not how others view us. I’m getting there, and it… Read more »
I 100% agree with your recommendation of David’s book, ‘A Beautiful Anarchy’. It is filled with so much important advice that so many of us need to heed. It’s very easy to get sucked into the vortex of social media and, while it certainly has its place, it shouldn’t be used as any sort of benchmark around your own personal growth as an artist.
Sadly, I find myself in the same thought process. Vey good post; it helps to know the “big fish” are having the same battles.
Thank you, Beverly. The way I see it, no on is immune to falling into these pitfalls regardless of how big of a fish you think you are. Reality checks like these are necessary to ground us and serve as a reminder that a dash of humbleness is a very good thing.
Agreed!
Thank-you, Thank-you Thank-you Brian! I have been feeling a little lost with my photography, and no that long ago decided I needed to re-evaluate the way I measure growth with my photography. It would seem from what I have read in comments that many other readers are re-thinking this as well. A very timily post. thanks
I really enjoyed reading this article. I often find that the photos I am most proud of, not are the ones that get the most likes, or have the most sales. Sometimes I choose to post things that are important to me, often with a written motivation why this means something to me. As an Equine Photographer it has a deeper meaning to capture a moment with a wild horse, than just a good photo of a domesticated horse (even though I enjoy taking that photo as well.) I guess it’s about the spiritual experience of taking the photo, as… Read more »
Wonderful article Brian. Actually what you are saying applies to life, not just photography. The illusion of “popularity” on social media is addictive and eventually destructive of not only our personal growth but can harm our personal relationships as well.
Thanks Brian. Whenever I start obsessing about my “likes” I’ll know I’m not doing enough of the real work. Best, David
Reblogged this on Cary McDonald's – DSLR Potential and commented:
Cool thoughts! Check out my work at http://www.carymcdonald.com.
I can’t say how much I like this article. Soul-lifting! And so true. Heck with the “likes”, we know how to make them but it’s so vain. Ultimately, what counts is how close you’ve come to where you really wanted to be. A long and solitary winding road, but how gratifying. Thanks Brian!
As I am an amateur I have only myself to please, in general it is only me who sees my photographs, other than Sunday football which are quick action shots. Your article is an insight into how easy it is to lose the reason why (one) start out taking photo`s. Great articale
Well said. I can relate.