John Paul Caponigro

1/25/2014

What advice would I give photographers just starting out?

Whether you're engaged in your creative life professionally or simply as a vehicle for personal growth (an important distinction to make), I recommend you make a creative plan. If you do this, you too will find both your productivity and fulfillment will increase, in a way that’s meaningful to you.

Set a mission (why you're doing it), goals (what outcomes you want), projects (the big things you do)(set goals for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, and end of life) and actions (the small steps you take to getting your projects done)(detail your 1 year next actions list) for your creative life.

Align your creative mission with your life’s mission. Most people need at least two missions; one for their life in general (which includes many things – health, family, finances, etc) and one for a specific area, like their career or creative life, which may or many not be the same. Make sure that your missions share something in common – something other than yourself. The more you can align the them, the more likely you are to achieve them, increase your productivity, and be more fulfilled.

A plan is a work in progress. The best plans are flexible and can be modified. If I don’t learn something new from a process, often something that shifts my perspective significantly enough to start doing something better than before, then I feel I haven’t truly excelled at what I’m doing. I expect to improve my plans. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t waste time making plans. It does mean I can waste time making plans that are too detailed or too speculative. In addition to learning when and how to plan, it’s also important to learn when to stop planning. But do plan. Planning not to plan is planning to fail. If you don't make plans, life just happens and you may not make the time for the things that matter to you most. Make that time.”

Read more on Making A Plan and Developing Personal Projects here.
http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/downloads/creativity/reviewing.php

Find 28 Quotes On Purpose here.
http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/blog/10342/28-quotes-on-purpose/

Regardless of your specialty, John Paul needs to be on your radar and you need to stay in touch with his workshops, speaking engagements and publications. The best place to start is his website. Then make it a point to check in on his blog on a regular basis. Last on the list, follow him on twitter! And if you're looking for some amazing workshops, it's just a click below to see his schedule! Plus, check out the Digital Photo Destination series John Paul does together with another SCU faculty member, Seth Resnick.

John Paul caponigro workshops