You’re probably asking yourself, “What makes you think you’re qualified to help me?” Well don’t worry, I’ve asked myself that same question many times over before deciding to do this, and here’s my answer:
For some reason, there’s a truth that people often like to ignore (and photographers are no exception). That truth is this; your experience is important to someone else. You may say “well, I’ve only been a photographer for 5 years” or “I’ve only started photography part-time just a year ago…I’m still trying to learn!” That’s wonderful! You should still be trying to learn! …but think about all that you have learned in the last year, or in the last 5 years, or in the last 10 years. There are people out there, in the same shoes you were in, and they could greatly benefit from what you already know. Besides, if we’re still at this in 50 years, we should still be in the process of trying to learn! Learning how to be a better photographer, a better artist, better at business, a better person and better version of ourself. We can’t use that as an excuse to avoid helping those that are coming up behind us. (…and just in case you haven’t made the connection yet, this applies to our spiritual walk with God just the same. There’s always someone with less experience than us that we can be a blessing and an encouragement to.)
So, I have no delusions of grandeur nor do I think I hold all of the answers; but I do know that in the last 15 years of working on a business and the last 25 years since purchasing my first camera, I have learned a LOT! I’ve had a load of help along the way. God has directed my path on so many occasions, and when I’m not being too stubborn to actually follow His lead, He actually provides some really awesome things (funny how that works). I have an incredible family that has supported me, even when things may have seemed to make no sense (or when things still seem to make no sense). I’ve had wonderful peers that have given me help and support and have seen qualities in me that I could never see in myself. Considering all of this, I feel it is time to give something back of something that has given so much to me.
Since Monday’s are the bane of modern day existence, my goal is to share a new post every Monday. I want to encourage and inspire you to keep pressing on, even when you don’t feel like it. I want to provide insight into what works for me. I can only give you my thoughts and ideas as I perceive them. I want to be clear, transparent, and honest. Vulnerability is something that is lacking in today’s online world. It’s so easy to build up a facade of success and well-being, even when you feel like the walls are crumbling down around you…but I believe honesty breeds honesty, creativity breeds creativity, and inspiration breeds inspiration. All themes I intend to share more about.
If you may be wondering why the “Look Beyond” theme sounds familiar, that is because it was borrowed (with permission) from this year’s incredible SYNC conference. In my contemplation of beginning this “blogger’s journey”, I realized that the theme of “Looking Beyond” was the perfect fit. We have to be able to step back, look beyond the situation we’re in, look beyond photography, look beyond the problems, look beyond what other’s think, and even look beyond what we think in order to see the future that lies ahead. It’s from this perspective we see that one of the best motivations to keep us pressing towards where we’re going is by looking back at where we’ve been. Not to live in the past, but to see the progression.
In what ways have you progressed since beginning your photographic journey? What have you learned in that time that could be beneficial to someone else? Are you willing to lift others up in order to encourage a better future for everyone…to look beyond yourself? After all, to become a foundation, you must be willing to be the block that others are built upon. So for the inaugural post, I leave you with this thought: When it comes to helping and encouraging others, why not me? …but more importantly, why not you?