Irony
Would you believe the irony in the title of this post? I began the concept for this particular series about 1 year and 4 months ago. A post about starting, doing, and ending procrastination and I am just now getting this started.
Honestly this principle of Stop Waiting -- Start Doing can apply not just in photography, but in anything from budgeting to working out and finding a job. Initially, I wanted to give people a "How-to Guide to Being a Photographer", but as I write, this is slowly beginning to turn into a discussion of what it means to be both a photographer and a young professional trying to learn how to navigate the landscape of the real world. Although photography will be a consistent theme, I definitely want to see these posts as a way to help people take of the mask of "Everything is fine and work is great" and help them to be real with themselves and grow. If anyone grows even one little bit from reading this, I will consider it a success. (The pictures in this post are some of the first ones I ever took, because I "Stopped waiting and started doing" - shameless reference.)
Lines and shoes. I have always loved order in chaos.
Procrastination kills progress
To begin, one thing that has held me back has been how badly I procrastinate. In school, I would sit and think about an assignment or project for hours, days, or weeks instead of just doing it. I would wait until the last minute and stress hardcore over having to meet the deadline saying, "I work better under pressure." What crap, that was?! Imagine the work I could have done with a finished product a couple weeks out and revised prior to the deadline.
Lens-flair. This is my favorite picture ever, and the only one I have ever had printed to this point.
Move along a little and imagine that a client has already paid you a fairly significant amount and it is 2 months since the completion of the event you were covering as the photographer. In this situation, you only have the deadline you set for yourself and the expectations you set for the client. There is no teacher, no principal, to give you bad grade or send you to detention. Learning how to things like this was extremely challenging for me in the beginning, but eventually I did. It is a process that I have to make sure I do with every new project but I began to overcome this by doing just little bit everyday - 30 minutes here or 30 minutes there. When you need 2000 pictures culled and edited, it can be a bit overwhelming, but taking bites bit by bit helps to turn this huge project into a bunch of little projects that are much more easily digested. Having a good, more efficient post-process is important to speeding up as well, but that is a discussion for another day.
Beginning. Maintaining. Finishing.
If you are just getting into photography and have yet to experience the pressure of having a client and a deadline, don't think this idea of start doing, stop waiting doesn't apply to you. You probably need this more than any seasoned photographer. To hit this point home, check out this short video from Ira Glass:
Ira Glass - On Storytelling
I feel this tension Ira mentions of being where I am compared to where I want to be. And honestly it scares me, drives me, and forces me to be better, If I am not careful it will crush me, but if I am diligent in doing and creating and finishing, the person and photographer I want to become will start to emerge. When I first started shooting, I just went out and shot all the time. Almost everyday or night I was out and about with either my friends, forcing them to shoot with me or be my models, or by myself trying to be all artsy and abstract.
Shoot More, Grow More
Rusted Stairway. Order in chaos yet again. Exploring Huntsville is always a blast.
One of the greatest pieces of advice I can repeat that I received is that you should bring your camera everywhere you go. As a photographer, you just - see things. It's hard to explain, but you just do, and you need to be able to capture that. So, be that weird photographer that takes your camera everywhere. The more you are able to get out and shoot, the more you will grow in not only your ability, but also your stylistic craft. You will learn not just what you do like, but rather importantly, what you do not like.
This period of beginnings is so vital to your styles and tendencies, so take advantage of whatever beginning you have right now, while you still have it. And for the "more experienced" folks, go and rekindle the passion and the eye that got you in this game. Stop waiting, start doing!