Learn From Others But Compete With Yourself

Photography, like any other art can contain elements of competition, especially when the art is also a business. Some of it is normal. Photographers have to advertise to get clients, and make themselves alluring to clients so that they are chosen versus another photographer. A small amount of healthy competition is ok...in that you are competing with yourself to be better and to move from good to great.

However, in the age of social media in the last few years I have both seen and dealt with an irrational sense of competition from other photographers. And this is not even about the business aspect where making money and getting hired is concerned. This is about the simple fact of being an artist.

I have watched and experienced (and currently experience) other photographers scouring over who they perceive to be their competitors' profiles and web presences, practically chasing them around the Internet, dying to be the first to comment, with generally negative comments of course (not referring to actual constructive criticism but insults). They seek to create relationships with their competitors' families, friends and photographer comrades, not to learn though, but to create the illusion of influence over said competitor (i.e claiming credit for their personal growth or excellence) and even to sway attention and positive opinion away from such competitor. As I mentioned in a previous post, some of those photographers have even taken it as far as posting their own work without permission to my Facebook business page and even directly contacting members of my family with inappropriate correspondence. What is even more unfortunate is that for me and other photographers I know, many of these types of envyographers do this under the guise of friendship, something we generally ignore but we are still human and after months or years (as in my case a few have for years now) of someone doing this, it can become tiring to the spirit. (Fortunately, constantly creating, interacting with those I love and admire and learning more revives my spirit and both excites and calms me...completely.)

Envy is a dangerous and unhealthy emotion. It causes irrationality in thoughts and perceptions. Often those who feel this way are envious of a "perceived" state of another and have no idea what the person's life is really like. The cliché of walking a mile in another's shoes would apply here. In my case, I know for a fact that many who do this to me could not handle living my life or the things that I have experienced. They deceive themselves with the grass is greener illusion.

Also, the need for attention is becoming as dangerous as the love of money in my opinion. In social media, attention is the new currency and some are allowing their need for it, their ache for it to cloud their judgment. Instead of learning from another photographer who receives such attention through their work, publications and from fellow comrades, they allow this to fuel the negative behavior that I mention above. Sometimes, their judgment is so clouded that the person is not even aware of the toxic saturation that they are bringing to other fellow photographers' lives.

There is no reason for photographers to become so competitive that they cannot think clearly, can only brag on things that they have not even accomplished yet and cannot stop to realize that they might be wrong about something and learn. They cannot become so afraid that someone like little ol' me or other newer photographers who started when they did might get "better" than they are. That should not be a factor in personal development and growth as an artist or most importantly, as a human being.

My only goal is to be better than I was yesterday. That's it. I love learning from other photographers. I cheer at others' successes, not minimize them by discussing what I am "gonna do." "Gonna do" cannot compete with what has been done. Period. Photographers who do this have to check their hearts and minds and not get negatively caught up in competing with the replay of a race that has already been run by someone else. They have to have their own vision for their art and their lives. Photographers must have an open mind and a clean heart to learn from others. They must realize they they themselves are their only competition in order to learn more, do more, grow more and be more.

"I’m competitive with myself. I always try to push past my own borders." ~ Tyra Banks

“You were placed on this earth to create, not to compete.” ~ Robert Anthony

"We are one. We are all photographers. We are a hamlet of micro communities. We are a village. We are not competitors and combatants. We are colleagues and collaborators. We need one another." ~ Jack Hollingsworth

“If you want to be incrementally better: Be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better: Be cooperative.” ~ Unknown

Related Blog Posts: Photographers, Be Who You Are, Facebook Fan Page Etiquette For Photographers, Improve Your Photography With Mentors, Peers and Students, 7 Tips For Providing Constructive Criticism, 7 Tips For Receiving Constructive Criticism

| Wednesday, March 03, 2010 | 4 Comments