Stencil

I wrote an article for UnknownPhotographer.net sometime last year, but the website and project has since disappeared from the internet, so I thought it would be fun to share an excerpt from the article here on my blog, as I think there are lots of important things that we (myself included) could all do with being reminded of. So here are the top 10 lessons that I took away from my largest project to date, Exit Through the Thrift Shop.

1. If you are just starting out with photography, it’s really important to try to shoot everyday. Henri Cartier-Bresson said ‘your first 10,000 photographs are your worst’ and he was absolutely right. Work through your bad patch as quickly as you can so you can start producing your great work. The other important thing to start doing straight away is sharing your work. The point of creating anything is to share it with others. If you make a habit of sharing your work from the very beginning, you will have fewer mental barriers standing in the way of your creativity later on. Both of these things were instrumental to the speed at which I was able to progress and improve my photography.

2. Use your initiative. Don’t be lazy, everything you need is available to you right now via the internet. 99% of what I know about photography I learnt from Zack Arias and I have never even met the guy. If you need a particular type of experience or skill, weave your needs into your personal work; that’s what it’s there for. You don’t need to wait for a client or lecturer to swoop into your life and spoon-feed you an assignment brief. You can give these opportunities to yourself, they are available to you right now. “A lot of people never use their initiative because no one told them to” - Banksy.

3. Incorporating something you enjoy or are passionate about into your photography work is the sure-fire way of a) sticking with it when you run into obstacles, b) having the desire to produce work that is to the very best of your ability, c) having the energy and motivation to keep working on it day after day until it’s finished, d) give you an eye for all the tiny little details that will set your work apart from anyone else doing anything similar. Your passion for the subject matter will spill-over into the photographs you produce and you will (hopefully) produce something really special.

4. Just because you don’t feel ‘ready’ to start on a challenging idea you have right now, doesn’t mean you should write it off altogether. Give your yourself some time and headspace and let the idea just settle in your mind. Test the water a bit and make some initial inquiries about things until you are satisfied that the logistics of the project can be managed. Don’t commit to anything unless you feel 100% ready for it because if you have any real doubts, it will eat away into your enthusiasm and you will procrastinate and never get it done. I can’t really explain the science behind it, but I think the well-worn Henry Ford quote ‘whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right’ is absolutely correct. The belief that you can do it is essential, and it if you haven’t got it right now, you just need to be patient, and let your mind work through the potential issues until it is satisfied that there aren’t any insurmountable obstacles left standing in the way.

5. Try not to become overwhelmed with all the little details and just work through the issues one at a time. All the pieces will fall together throughout the duration of the project and you will get what you need when you need it. Figure out a way to do the hardest bits first and then work through the rest as you go along. You don’t need to know how you are going to do every single little thing before you can even get started.

6. Focus. If there is something you really want to achieve, and it requires a lot of work, be prepared to cut just about everything else out of your life while you work on it. You can do something, but you can’t do everything. I spent every second I could working on this project, hit the pause button on everything else I was working on and I still had to take some unpaid leave off work just to get everything done in time.

7. Keep it simple, realistic and manageable. Don’t plan on shooting with a million lights, if you only really know how to work with one. Don’t make things so complicated and difficult for yourself that it will become a barrier for you and you won’t even make a start on it. ‘The smallest action is better than the greatest intention’.

8. It’s going to get messy. Working on anything challenging is really going to take it out of you. You will inevitably find yourself under a lot of stress, and at times it will get the best of you. There will be moments when you will hold your head in your hands and wonder what the effing crap you were thinking and times when you have to squint your eyes just to see your monitor through the haze of your uncontrollable sobbing. The key is to get it out of your system, so you can pull yourself together and get back to work. Things will get messy, but the only thing that matters is that you finish. No one cares about how you got there, just that you got there in the end.

9. “Comparison is the thief of joy” - Teddy Roosevelt. I think it’s a really bad idea to spend an unhealthy amount of time obsessing over other people’s work. Sure it’s great to admire other photographers, maybe even get a bit of inspiration from them, but not at the expense of the confidence you need to go after your own goals. A good indicator that you need to step away from the computer is that you spend so much time looking at other people’s work that you start to lose faith in your own ability to create great work yourself.

10. Get help. You simply can’t do this sort of thing on your own. Call in any favours you are owed and don’t be afraid to ask everyone you know to help you. When the time comes, you will be grateful for every little piece of the puzzle they will bring to the project. I was surprised and truly humbled by the amount of generosity and support I received from the people around me.