The Dangers of Falling in Love and Other Uncomfortable Photographic Truths
Love is grand and all, but letting it cloud reality is a problem, ya know.
Hey Framers, it’s Sunday.
We have had a bit of rain here in the desert, and the fragrance of that rare occurrence is flooding my office this morning.
There are about two dozen quail right off the porch, and they are feeding on the bugs displaced by the water.
Life.
I have been busy reworking the Creative Class a bit, and that takes up most of my mid-day work. I am trying to get out in the evenings with my camera for an hour or so. The late afternoon sun in the desert reveals texture unseen in the midday sun.
No movement on the sale of the house, sadly. But this is not the best time for sales, so we just keep on keeping on with that challenge.
I had the wonderful opportunity to conduct my first 5 Day “Client Acquisition Sprint” last week, and I think it helped a lot of people. They indicated that it did.
One of the things that struck me was the number of highly talented photographers that no one knows about. I mean real quality work.
And it was also a glimpse into the challenges that face photographers who grow up through the digital ‘platform’ era.
I got in a couple of short motorcycle rides this week.
I am learning how to navigate that big cruiser over a mile of only slightly improved dirt roads. At some point, I may be cruiser-motocross-ready. Or in the mud. We’ll see.
I am hoping for temps that will allow me to ride the motorcycle over to Anza, but that remains to be seen as well.
Algorithms
Friend or foe?
Depends on how you use them, I suppose.
But they can be seductive, disloyal, and ultimately challenge your work in ways that are so insidious that you hardly recognize them.
Platforms are widely seen as the best way to learn the craft.
“You can learn anything you need to know about photography on YouTube”, goes the familiar refrain.
And many times you can.
But sometimes you can’t.
Platforms become the megaphone for ideas, of course, but they also have a hand in trending those ideas.
He’s right, you know.
And it isn’t a new concept.
“It’s My Party, And I’ll Cry If I Want To” was a super smash hit for Leslie Gore.
Immediately followed by “Judy’s Turn to Cry”.
Both are based on the same chords, the same key, the same structure, and the same melodic framework. They are nearly indistinguishable.
And that was in 1963.
We can go back to Tchaikovsky and Mozart for similar stories.
No algorithm then, but definitely an awareness of “this worked; let’s try another…”
Today we can chart how many YouTube visitors we had in the first 30 minutes, run a process to compare to other videos we made, and even compare against competitors to find out how we performed against them. We can then tweak our video to make it 2% more competitive, striving ever onward to find that perfect algorithmic orgasm of pure virality.
Does that sound like an artist finding their own way to you?
Sounds like a whore to the whims of the masses.
Have you noticed that YouTube videos start their audio at the very beginning with absolutely no silence before the voice?
Algorithm.
Have you noticed that every time you search for something, you get ads for it in your feed on Facebook?
Algorithm.
Have you grown tired of “I Ditched My SonJiOn for a NiCaFuSo! Here’s Why!”, posts that appear almost like clockwork?
Algorithm.
There is a chart I keep in my head to explain growth as a photographer, or any artist for that matter, and it is fairly typical.
The first two groups represent about 90% of the money spent in the pursuit of photographic goals.
It’s also in these groups that romance is sold by the bushel.
The romance of the brand, the romance of the activity, the romance of the gear, the acclaim, the expectations of freedom and fame.
The last group also knows that if you are romantically involved with the first two, you ain’t never gonna get over the mountain to the great valley of art, baby.
Unfortunately, so many people are in love with the stuff that there is little room for any relationship with the art.
The chase of the algorithm is what brings us “Fast and Furious 21”, “Spiderman 12”, and “Cher’s 9th Farewell Tour”.
What the algorithm doesn’t teach us is that we must stop the romance of what we do and look at it more pragmatically.
What separates a working photographer, someone making a living at it, and the vast amounts of incredibly talented photographers who aren’t is that horrible, no good, terrible word; marketing.
Sharing, showing, displaying, getting the work out there… that is all marketing.
How you dress, what you say, what your invoices look like, and a lot more little things are all marketing.
You can have the best portfolio ever created but if no one sees it, does it really exist?
Like the bear in the woods falling, or was it - wait, did I get that right? You know what I mean.
"Video, or it didn’t happen”. Whatever.
We can sit and organize our portfolio a thousand ways from Sunday, put up the coolest images ever on Instagram, and garner a lot of friends on TikkerTok.*
None of those things are as powerful as getting your work in front of people who are actually looking for work like yours.
But, see, this stuff isn’t necessarily fun.
Putting together a list of possible clients is not entirely the good time it sounds like it would be. Cold-calling a thousand possible clients and only reaching 35 of them sorta sucks when you think about it. Cold-emailing is only slightly more fun.
Is fun the right word?
Naww, it kinda sucks too.
But so does having to sell your gear and learn to run a burger fryer.
Which sucks worse?
See… decisions.
Algorithm.
Imagine sitting a grandchild down and having them say to you, “You were a really good photographer (artist, writer, whatever…), why did you quit doing it?”
“Well, I didn’t have the courage to call someone on the phone or send an email to someone I didn’t know.”
Really?
That’s what you’re gonna tell them?
The algorithm of the interwebs says the best way to get the most followers is to tell them what they want to hear, tell them the same stuff that worked last week (Gary V, anybody?), or simply rehash another “this lens is sharper than that lens, especially on Thursdays when the moon is full” crappy blog post.
I think the best way to help someone is to tell them what they need to hear and not what they want to hear.
This business is hard.
Harder than most. You heard me, HARDER than most.
Your commitment to making images must be strong, but your commitment to building a business must be stronger. A lot stronger.
No romance there, buckos.
And look, there is a time and place for the romance of the perception of what we do, and even in the work itself.
But the relationship between you and “business” cannot be a complex one; you have to be all in.
All. In.
If you have the work, you must find ways to get it in front of the people who can make your business real. Be obsessed about showing everyone what you do.
Do you want romance?
Be romantic about that.
I don’t write what I write or teach what I teach because of any algorithm. I rarely, if ever, check my stats. I will never be led by what the crowd is doing. There can be very little space between a crowd and a mob, and mobs never accomplish anything worthwhile.
I hope you know that I write from my heart and my head, and I do it with the idea that I may help one or two creative people break through the noise and live a great life. Being a tiny part of that is my motivation.
When you are ready, here is how I can help you succeed.
Group Mentorship: a small group of photographers who meet to show images, work on their portfolio, and build their businesses with help from a wonderful group. Lifetime membership for one fee.
One-on-one Mentorship: You and me - working together in an intense 6-month push to get you on the way to over $30K in revenue if you are making less and over $60K if you are already making around $30K.
The Creative Class: Expand your toolset and become a one-person visual agency capable of pulling in steady and repeated income. If you have questions, let me know, and I will answer them as fast as possible.
Discount codes for In the Framers:
Cohort Discount $197: $1000 | A23CD7E72E
Creator Discount: $100: $197 | 2BA98E4053
The Desert This Week.
We have had some weather, and that brings fiery sunsets and incredible light.
I had to go into town quite early and was nearly back to the desert home when the sun began to rise.
Kings of the Sonoran Desert against a morning sunrise.
My daily commute takes me on this route. So far, it never gets old.
I feel really blessed to have five of these on the property. These are the oldest, the others are still without arms. I call them The Twins.
All photographs are iPhone 13. Only “The Twins” was manipulated. I used Snapseed to create the black and white.
Thanks for coming along this morning.
This is going to be a busy week.
I like busy weeks.
See you soon.
Succinct and poetic Don. The photographers journey is an excellent visual and so true, though for me I visualize it more like a Maslow-esque pyramid to artistic enlightenment.
Great post. This hits home for me. Especially the HONY parts about the algorithm and bending your output to fit it. I think it's even more pronounced than it was when human gatekeepers controlled everything in the past, because that algorithm is mechanical. If you don't hit its quantity and keyword needs, it ignores you—and so does the audience. It's fascinating how this has shaped what is popular, and therefore what becomes culture, in the 2020s. I have to fight against it in the things I make, striving for "good" rather than "more," and the system simply aint set up to reward that.