Impatient Patience. The Keys to Success

Whether it is photography, music, writing, or doing anything, really.

Have you ever wondered how one photographer can seemingly come out of nowhere and start to get all the gigs, and yet we are still standing flatfooted in a sort of art-infested quicksand?

You do?

Great, I'm not alone in this. 

It's a common occurrence for me.

For me, as a hopeful writer, it is all too clear.

We expect great things to happen quickly, and become disappointed when they don’t. 

“In a funk, I am” - Yoda.

And we feel the steely sting of ‘unworthiness’. (Cue the “We’re not worthy’ meme.)

But that is a false and deeply flawed expectation that makes us impatient, and yet it is not necessarily a bad thing.

Not in the slightest.

Not if you use it to your advantage.

I love photography. It holds a special place in my heart.

The act of creating images should not be a source of sorrow, regret, or negativity of any kind.

Instead, I think of photography as the start of a passionate romance. A journey of discovery using a camera and the amazing ability to affix an image in time of something or someone you see in front of you.

Or simply in your mind’s eye. A sort of mental hallucination we can make real.

And that takes practice, deliberate attention to growth, and a self-awareness that lets us know we are getting there.

And when we arrive.

I have always believed in a deliberate approach to patience through being impatient.

Yes, that’s right.

I call it Impatient Patience, and yeah, it’s a thing.

Impatience means we practice and learn. Again and again. We make image after image, adjust for failure, and keep moving forward to do the whole thing again.

Patience means that we know we have to do this regimen of fail, adjust, attempt, fail, adust, attempt, over and over again before we get it right.

Impatient patience. 

Get it?

But in order to not go gear-wonky and start trading camera systems in for new ones every eleven weeks,  we must manage our constantly impatient expectations, and we can do so with what I call "enduring eagerness."

What on earth do I mean by enduring eagerness?

Eagerness.

This is where you are fervently engaged with the craft, the art, the aesthetics of photography. You read everything, try everything, shoot everything, and become a little obsessed.

Or maybe a lot obsessed. It’s not a bad thing.

Capture every moment you can.
Delve into weekend excursions.
Go to meetups, workshops, and events.
Photograph every friend you know.
Twice.
Put yourself into any situation where you and your camera can explore it.
Together.

You and your camera are becoming more of a single entity. And whether it is your shiny new Z9, or a $20 Ebay special from 2010, you are making photographs.

And the act of doing leads to more visual knowledge.

And don't hold back… you want to learn everything.

As quickly and thoroughly as possible.

From exposure to Lightroom, lens selection to Photoshop Curves… it's all there for you to conquer. 

And it requires time.

That's where endurance comes in. 

Be patient with your eagerness… ACKNOWLEDGE that it takes more than a handful of shoots before you will be happy with your work, and clients will be willing to pay for it.

Success doesn’t happen overnight.
Success won’t happen overnight.
Success rarely happens overnight.

We aren’t that lucky.

Luck is for suckers.
Visit any carnival for more information.

You endure.

Even if you're eagerly shooting every other Saturday when the weather permits, since that's the only time LIFE has granted you to hone your craft, you endure and you persevere.

I remember a young photographer who requested my critique of her work. She was struggling to find clients in the consumer market even though she had assembled her "best work" on a website. 

And believed that was all she had to do.

She was very unhappy with the fact that no one cared to even look. 

She couldn’t even get family to hire her for photos.

Even for free.

(Note to all photographers: If no one will hire you to shoot for free, you may need to examine what the heck is wrong with your work. Everybody likes free,)

It didn’t take but a moment to see what the problem was.

Her photos fairly shrieked, "I'm not ready." 

Painful. 

She confessed that those 23 images were the best she'd produced during her entire photography career.

A career that spanned nineteen months.

She expected easy results.
She expected fast returns.
She expected to go from zero to hero in 2.6 months.

27 photo shoots in 19 months meant that she was practicing neither patience nor impatience. 

She wasn’t patient with where she thought she should be, but she was also not impatient about getting there.

See?

Another photographer approached me about one-on-one mentoring, and after looking at her book, I asked how many years she had been shooting as the work said it was probably a decade or more.

At least.

Eleven months was the answer.

She explained that she fell in love with shooting food and began doing it every chance she could. 

Every. Chance.

I decided I wanted to work with her and I asked if she could produce 5 photos per week. 

“Yes, I can do that”, she said, “I really want to get better and get to work.”

The first week she did forty images,

One week, she spent the weekend shooting baking items and ended up with nearly 80 images that were better than good.

Eighty.

But she knew she wanted to become more proficient, so she kept on shooting until she got to the point where she was so comfortable making images that it was nearly second nature.

And we went to the market.

The market responded nearly instantly and within a few months, she was shooting national brands.

(I want to point out that this photographer doesn’t shy away from doing the marketing, the emails, the direct mails, the PR, and all of the tools we use to get noticed. She embraced the process, created a system she believed in, and kept at it.

Impatient Patience.

I wonder how many gifted photographers quit before they ever had the chance to experience the pride of possessing a truly strong body of work, whether they were pros or just someone who loves the medium?

Or the thrill of receiving a call from an Art Director, or client saying, "I want you to capture these images for me. You are the one with the vision I adore.”

How many photographers misunderstood the nature of the art and business, only to be continuously perplexed and frustrated by it, ultimately giving up because they believed they should have been instantly successful? 

I wonder how many remarkable photographers remain hidden. 

Unwilling to be impatient, and not understanding how important patience is.

All that talent lost to us.

All of the amazing images never taken, and never seen.

And, worse, lost to themselves.

I wonder occasionally if my background in music helped me understand impatient patience. 

Learning rudiments on a drum meant constant repetition, constant practice, and consistently working the hands and brain together.

Every day we would practice.

Impatient.

And after a few months, or years, we would be able to do it, at least decently.

Patience.

I want to write better, so every day I write something. My goal is 800 words a day, but usually, I exceed that by a few hundred.

But never less.

That is my impatience.

And Random House hasn’t called yet with a million-dollar advance offer.

But they will.

That’s patience.

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INTRODUCING ASH AMBIRGE TO YOU ALL

I want you to consider this: Communication Skills have never been more important for all of us artistic commercial types. We gotta communicate all the time.

Ash Ambirge is my writing coach. I have taken three of her workshops.

I have taken the workshop she is offering now, and I think you should look into it.

Being better at writing is one of the things you can use to so many great advantages. From client emails, to query letters, to correspondence with peers and mentors, the ability to write well is more important now than ever before.

I am not an affiliate for this workshop.

I am just a huge fan of her work, her teaching skills, and the importance of becoming a better writer.

In the world we live in, being able to NOT write like ChatGPT is going to become even more and more important.

This is the link. She only offers this course every year or so.

The option is yours.

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ANNOUNCING MY NEW BOOK:

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR CREATIVE BUSINESS

The proof copy just came in, so after I spend a week proofreading and making necessary changes it will be offered for sale through this newsletter. There is more in this book than in most university courses. From copyright to bidding, contracts to working a gig, I have covered the stuff you need to know.

It comes with a separate workbook and will be offered in three different iterations.

Super excited.

Now, I must run. I am practicing slow turns on my motorcycle, and impatient to get to the track this morning. I also understand it takes a good many hours to get this right.

See ya’ll next time!

DESERT STILLNESS

My book, Desert Stillness, will be offered with an included print beginning in May. This will be a limited offer of 50 books, signed with an 8x10 print also signed.