Lessons Learned - In and Out of Photography: My DIY Gene

by Skip Cohen

A month ago, I celebrated a significant career milestone anniversary, and my buddy Don Komarechka had me on his podcast, Inside the Lens, which is part of Photo Geek Weekly. The topic? Lessons learned over my career. We only covered a few of those lessons in the podcast, but it's a great topic. If you can learn from my experiences, especially my mistakes, then you can make new ones of your own.

Today's topic - my do-it-yourself gene. I used to think it was a guy thing, like never asking for directions, but over the years, I've discovered it's not exclusive to any gender. For me, it's always been about pride in doing something myself and not wanting to bother somebody by asking for help. Here are a couple of examples: 

• In one of my first apartments, I hated the round fluorescent light in the kitchen. So, for less than $20, I bought a ceiling fixture and figured how hard could it be to make the change? Well, it was an old building with a fuse box that nothing was connected to. When I disconnected the original fixture, I cut off half the lights in the apartment next door and didn't know which wires to hook up again in the bunch that all connected in this one fixture. It was a $100 investment to get an electrician to come out at night and fix things the right way.
• Fast forward forty years, and my buddy Scott Bourne helped me build a website. I wanted to make some minor changes but knew nothing about HTML code. However, the change was small, and once I found where the change needed to go in the code, having never learned my lesson about calling in an expert, I decided to do it myself. I can still hear his words after he spent an hour cleaning up my mess, "Skip, next time, just call me!" I left out a few of his better expletives, which I deserved!

And that brings me right to my point - When you need help, ask for it!

I'm older, wiser and have realized if I don't know how to do something, I either need to learn the right way or contact somebody who knows what they're doing. It's not so much that wisdom comes with age, but my value on time has changed. I don't have time to work on something that's going to take me hours to do when I'm part of a network and industry where we all help each other.

When I hit the wall in regards to a skill I'm missing, I take a look at my network of friends and associates before I invest hours I don't have trying to figure something out. Time is our most valuable commodity, and there's never enough of it.

So, the next time you're about to jump into something because your pride's in the way of asking for help, step back, and consider your options. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid to lean on a friend because down the road; they're going to need help on something that's in your wheelhouse. ​

"Never ask for help!"
No Succesful Person Ever
From Matt McWilliams

​Over the years, I've learned to ask for help when I need it. However, as I wrote in the last "Lessons Learned," 
at a time when so many of my friends are slowing down or retiring, I love this business too much to give anything up. The busier I am, the more I love it. The more I realize how much there still is to learn outside my comfort zone, and the more energy I seem to have to explore and navigate a new path.

My DIY gene is still active, but more cautious and focused on learning something new rather than just jumping and hoping the net will appear!