Dear friends,
It seems one of the most difficult things in photography is to self-motivate yourself towards photography– this means:
- Motivating yourself to shoot and make new photos
- Motivating yourself to review your photos, select (edit) them, process them, export them, publish/share them, then figure out which photos to share, etc.
- Finding and discovering deep joy from your photography, which will motivate you to continue your photographic journey.
But why is self-motivation in photography so difficult, and how can we motivate ourselves further in photography? Some thoughts:
1. Your photos are the best photos
The first thing:
Recognize and acclaim that your own photos are the best photos.
This means:
Know that YOUR photography and YOUR artwork is the end-goal, not to just glorify and become uber-knowledgeable about all the other photographers out there.
Because this is the bias:
We think in order to become ‘legitimate’ photographers, we must know ALLLL the history of photography, know allll the master photographers of the past (in order to name drop) and in order to seem intelligent and ‘educated’ in the world of art-photography.
But this is is a silly goal. You are the artist, and the most important photographic and artistic visionary. Do not let the vision of others eclipse your own.
2. The joy of reviewing your photos, witnessing your photo growth, and seeing your new images
This is also something that makes me really happy and grateful:
Seeing and perceiving my photographic and artistic growth.
For example, now I am able to *SEE* composition better (for example, triangle compositions in photography, etc).
3. Photos that make me happy, smile and joyful
What keeps me motivated and going? When I see my own photos that make me smile, and bring me great delight and joy. I get a shot of positive motivation and serotonin from these personal photos (of Cindy, Seneca, myself, my mom, etc), and it motivates me to keep going!
4. Photography as a fun play-thing, and experiment
The joy of experimenting with composition, reflections, and other forms of artistic and creative innovation!
For example,, the recent fun I had discovering that the tri-tilting mirrors in my bathroom can create this very fun ‘funhouse’ effect with mirrors (reminds me of a scene from JOHN WICK 3 — the last scene with all the mirrors).
5. Anything and everything is worthy to be photographed.
My big realization is that for me, all of photography is a ‘life stream’ or a visual stream of images.