SkipCohenUniversity
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us

the SCU Blog

You Know How to Hold Focus With Your Camera - How About Your Career?

8/10/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Always remember, your focus determines your reality.
George Lucas

by Skip Cohen

With all the challenges in our lives these days, it's often tough to stay positive. From the pandemic to politics, there seems to be something new every day, adding to the struggle to stay focused and on track. Even the most confident of us feel the pressure to second guess everything, from maintaining our health to rebuilding business. The result is most often a little damage to our self-confidence. 

It's Marketing Monday, and this is going to seem simplistic, but maybe it's time we developed a check-off list of things to do to help stay focused. You know how to focus your camera, but do you know how to hold the focus on the passion for your career?


  • Find yourself a supportive Facebook forum. Most of us have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, but with the pandemic and the isolation of self-quarantine, it's become one of the best sources to stay in touch with other artists and friends. There are so many groups within photography, and while now and then you'll run across a troll who doesn't like the images you share, just remember, "Beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder!"
  • Take advantage of online education. Yesterday I was honored to help ClickCon Nation launch their nine-month educational series, leading up to ClickCon 2021. I was filling in as Joe McNally's stunt double because he's still without power following the hurricane. For the whole day, there were programs to help you stay on track as a professional photographer. Out of Chicago is coming up on August 22/23, and KelbyMedia has their Landscape Conference Sept. 8/9. There's so much out there to help you hold focus!
  • Surround yourself with positive people. Lately, they're not always easy to find, but one of the great things about this industry is how we all watch each other's backs. Sooner or later, the "negators" in your life will hopefully come around, but for now, those people who are throwing up the roadblocks need to be kept on the sidelines. The only thing they're contributing to your life is stress.
  • Stop watching the news! I'm not suggesting you put your head in the sand, but limit your intake of information from the media. Sheila and I watch the news a couple of times a week, and we fast forward through anything to do with politics - because nobody tells the truth anyway! Sorry, but it's become harder and harder to know what to believe. So, we've found a couple of sources we trust to read.
  • Listen to your heart. It sounds hokey, but you know what you feel inside. You know what your gut instinct is saying about your passion for being a photographer. The pandemic has changed a lot of things, but people's need to capture memories is still out there and might even be stronger than ever.​
  • Stay in touch with your clients! Just because you're hunkered down for health reasons, doesn't mean your business and career goals have to be on the back-burner. Pick up the phone and call a couple of past clients every day. You don't need to be selling anything, just checking to see how they're doing.
  • Look at old images. Go back and look at your very first images. It might have been a party you photographed, a landscape while on vacation, or maybe just a few shots of your kids. Now compare them to where you are today. Most of you will see growth in the way you compose and expose today. As you get more experienced, there should be noticeable changes in lighting, composition, depth of field, and creativity.
  • What are you missing in your skill set? Take advantage of the downtime and expand your skills. Remember, growth only occurs outside your comfort zone.
  • Roberto Valenzuela suggested a terrific tool for practicing the craft on a GoingPro podcast a long time ago. He suggested you go back to the last wedding you photographed and look at all the bad images. "Look for what you missed and learn to understand why each image wasn't good!"
  • Enter some images in print competition. This is a personal favorite. Whether you enter prints or not, at least follow the judging whether it's online or live at the next convention. Listen to what the judges are saying about each photograph. Use their suggestions as guidance for your own work.
  • Join your local chapter or guild of professional photographers. Sooner or later, everyone shares the same frustrations. A local chapter of other photographers becomes a support group and an essential part of your network. There's a lot of comfort in knowing your peers share some of the same concerns and frustrations. 
  • Don't respond to trolls! When you step out into the public forums and get shot at by a troll, don't let yourself get caught up in the battle. Don't respond. Your silence is far more effective at driving them mad!​

This is only a partial list, and I know there are a lot more things you can do that I haven't included here. So, feel free to let me know what I've missed. Most important of all, if you're feeling discouraged or frustrated, there are a lot of us willing to help. 

Don't get sidetracked by people who are not on track!
Anonymous
1 Comment
Norma Grieve link
8/11/2020 07:53:51 am

Thank you for the very, much-needed reorientation.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Click to visit Platypod.com

      Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Our Partners

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    "Why?"

    Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're over 100 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

    Categories

    All
    Beyond Technique
    Business
    Clean Up Series
    Customer Service
    EDU10
    Excire
    F64 Lunch Bunch
    Faculty
    Fast Food Friday
    Guest Post
    Humor And Sarcasm
    Hump Day
    In The News
    Lessons Learned
    Lighting
    Luminar
    Lumix
    Marketing
    Mark's Corner
    Mind Your Own Business
    Miscellaneous
    Motivational
    One Step At A Time
    Photodex
    PhotoShelter
    PhotoTexting
    Platypod
    Podcasts
    Profoto
    Sales
    Search
    Skylum
    Social Media
    Sunday Morning Reflections
    Tamron
    Tamron Recipes
    Technique
    Throwback Thursday
    Wedding Photography
    Westcott
    Why?

Categories​

Business
Marketing
Technique
Sales
Fast Food Fridays
​

Podcasts

Tamron Recipes 
Beyond Technique
Why?
Mind Your Own Business
Pro Photographer Journey

 Partners

Tamron
PhotoTexting

​Lumix

Marathon Press
​Platypod
©  2019 Skip Cohen University
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us