Is It Time for You to Change Paths?

You can't create images that tug at people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't in it!
Skip Cohen

by Skip Cohen

I've made that statement a few times over the years, and it's so true. As a professional photographer, you've chosen a career path that requires interaction with clients, whether they're in front of your camera or interacting in business negotiations.

With the time change last weekend, I'm having a harder time than before adjusting to waking up in the morning. I was trying to sleep in a little this morning, getting up at almost 7:30 rather than the usual 6:30. What got me up was the noise of a delivery truck backing up across the street and the annoying beep.

Wouldn’t it be great if the human body was equipped with a backup signal?  All we need is a simple device that just lets people know we’re “backing up”. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the problem. It isn’t letting people know we’re backing up, it’s accepting that we should back up in the first place!

I’ve seen so many photographers, determined to stay on the path they’ve chosen, who are miserable. They’re determined to prove a point and stay true to the road they’ve chosen to travel when a slight turn or even starting the journey over would put a smile back on their face.

I’ve met wedding photographers who admit they hate weddings and “would have loved to be shooting commercial work, but the money just wasn’t there!”  I’ve talked with studio photographers doing portraits who wish they had “the variety of situations wedding photographers get to enjoy!”  Then there are thousands of photographers who insist on running EVERY aspect of their business, never considering outsourcing tasks that take them away from what should be their core, shooting and marketing themselves.

Here’s my point:

Don’t be afraid to change paths. Stop feeling like you have to not only inform the world but also get everyone’s opinion. You need to believe in yourself!

Many years ago, my good buddy, Matthew Jordan Smith, when I asked him for a quote for new photographers just starting out, said, “You’ve got to find your own voice!” I guess I want to change that slightly – yes, you have to find your own voice, but then you have to listen to it!

You can’t please everybody, and you’re only one person. The only person you really have to keep happy is the one looking back at you every morning in the mirror. So, if along the way you have to change your path to increase your personal satisfaction, then go for it!

Your most important client is YOU!

After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. 
After five years, look at it with suspicion. 
​And after ten years, throw it away and start all over. 
Alfred Edward Perlman