This post is short, sweet, and to the point: if you want to ever stop being dominated by creative ruts as a photographer the best thing you can possibly do for yourself is to surround yourself in positivity and creative energy. Sounds crazy, right? You could say that, but it’s the truth and every business owner who has weathered being within inches of bankruptcy will tell you exactly that.
So how do photographers surround themselves with positivity?
One of the reasons why I got rid of commenting on the site has to do with the fact that humanity uses social media as their own sort of dumping ground. They troll just because they’re hiding behind an avatar of some sort and commenting tends to just not really work out. I mean look at FStoppers, PetaPixel, etc. Read the comments and you start to think those communities really aren’t such nice places.
The same thing goes for Reddit as sooooooo many people complain about R/Photography.
Still don’t believe it? Look at your Facebook feed and notice how political everything has become.
All of that negative energy gets spewed into the world just because people want to vent. You read it, your friends read it and that energy spreads. So instead what you need to do is surround yourself in positivity in real life.
What I used to do is print out the email of every person who ever was thankful that I helped them grow as a photographer. These emails went up on my walls and every time I took a break and looked around, I remembered that if I ever gave up that I’d be letting all these people down.
Today, I surround myself with photos. My bedroom has photos from a personal project I did last year which went viral and reminds me of what I’m capable of. It also reminds me that I can do more. So my office, living room, bedroom and kitchen all have photos and artwork on the walls. They’re reminders that imagery can be beautiful and by surrounding myself with this work, I feel like there are lots of great photos that can always be taken as long as you either create them effectively or are in the right place at the right time.
Some of my own personal best photos are put into a folder on my computer that rotates out the wallpapers on both my displays. These photos remind me of what I’m capable of and as time goes on, they remind me of where I was and where I am now.
Try it: this mind hack will mean you become a better photographer over time. It all starts with printing.
