Entrance to the Subway - a photo on Flickriver

            One of the sneakiest challenges a lot of photographers face these days is dealing with expectations they place on themselves that pertain to their audience or peers.  These expectations come in a variety of formats but one thing that I think always gives them away is when a photographer is talking to me about where they are struggling and uses the word "should" as opposed to saying something like "I want to...".  In a lot of these conversations, "should" gets followed up by a list of expectations or standards they are trying to operate under that don't originate from how they wish to do photography but rather how they think they should change their photography to better fit the crowd around them.  I recently taught a class and had a lady in the class who was wonderfully creative but really struggled to see it for herself, instead she kept talking about how she needed to be better at her technicals because other photographers had better technicals than her, or that she used to really like composing images in a certain way that left people in awkward places in the frame (because those were the types of images she liked) but she had gotten away from it due to thinking it wasn't proper technical composition.  

I see this sort of thing come up a lot.  What should we post to social media?  The image I like, or the image I think will be popular.  I use to post images I like but they didn't do well, so I stopped.  Should I highly curate my feed?  Or should I create a separate account for my film images?  Should I learn to edit in a certain way?  Should I go photograph at a certain location?  Social media has built a vast and valuable network, but as we network more and more, and experience less and less isolation in our creative lives, it becomes harder and harder to hold onto our individual approaches to doing our work.  Influences and expecations from external sources compete with our own internal desires.  And it is often hard to even realize when you are changing up your creative approach, or even thinking about your photography, based on those external influences... adopting "this is how I should be doing things" over "this is how I want to do things".  

We are a social people, and none of us lives or even excels in a vacuum.  Can you get away from these pressures and influences?  Unlikely.  But I think there are ways to be more aware of them and manage them.

The first is just paying attention to how you think and talk about your own work, be it internally or with others.  If you are critiquing yourself based on comparisons to other photography, this is a red flag.  Watch the other language you use and ask yourself where it comes from.  Again, the word "Should" in particular is one to note.  When you find yourself using it, ask yourself just why should you do this thing differently?  Is it because you want to, or because something else is making you feel like you ought to.  Identifying this sort of thing is a great first step.

Another, may be to remember that you are your first and most important audience.  If you are going to play to an audience, make that primary audience yourself first and everyone else secondary.  Make photography for you, then share it with others.  

Third is give yourself some space.  Create a buffer zone between you and social media.  This can take several forms.  One example is social media holidays.  Schedule a week or a month off here and there.  It is amazing what a break can do for you.  Spend that time making photos.  Another way is don't share work immediately.  Sit on it.  I often sit on images for months.  What this does for me is that when an image does show up in my feeds it is because it jumped out to me and spoke to me as I was browsing my libraries.  In other words, by waiting it makes it much easier for my motivations for posting a particular image to be because I felt something personally with that image, not because I was responding to external pressure to put something on social media for the rewards of likes, shares, engagement, etc. Of all the things I do, I think this delay in posting is one of the more helpful in creating a bit of space between me and the social media audience.  It gives me time to process my feelings on my imagery and develop that relationship, so by the time the image goes up, everything that happens on the internet is just icing on the cake.

I also think it is a good practice to sit down and think about what kind of photographer you want to be, how you want to make images, what makes you happy.  List these things out and then follow them as close as you can.  

Anyway, true to form, this is an image made of the entrance to the Subway from a couple years back when I finally crossed Zion off the bucket list.  I'd love to get back as the park is amazing and I hope to some point soon.  

Pentax 67
Kodak Ektar

Taken on: October 13, 2019

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Pentax 67

Kodak Ektar 100

The Subway

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Sets appears in: • American Southwest

Groups appears in: • ~ PENTAX Cameras ~ • I Shoot Film more » • U.S. National Parks • Analog Photography • Outdoor Photographer Magazine (Unofficial) • Southern Utah • Blue Moon Camera • The Film Group • 120 • Zion National Park • FILM* Club • Pentax 67 (6x7, 67, 67II) • I Shoot Kodak Film • Film is not Dead!! • Nature & Landscapes • FILMISM • 6x7 -COLOR- • Popular Photography Magazine • Zion National Park Photos • the resurrection of film: film is back • Kodak Ektar 100 • Film is Awesome! • film's dead, but it just won't lie down • .film.forever. • film will never die • Film Photography Podcast • Film Without Training Wheels • Mortal Muses ~ Film Friday • Film is God Official Flickr Group. • Filmphotography (1/day) Now Open - June Contest - Umbrellas • The Film Shooters Collective • ☼ Weather of the American West ☈ • The American West; Photography From Sunset to Sunset • The Enchanted & Beautiful American West • Magnificent Images of the Great American West • Brain Vision. Art. « less

Camera: Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 9000 ED (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 9000 ED
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 (Windows)
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