{ "But I'm Not GOOD Enough!" } -- Mesa, AZ Photographer

{ Just Because You're at Point A & Not at Point Z, Doesn't Mean That You're Not a Photographer }

I hear the same lament of discouragement from SO many photographers:

"I'm not as good as they are."

"I'll NEVER be good enough."

"I'm totally fooling myself. I'm not a photographer."

"I don't want to say I'm a photographer and then have people say that I'm not."

"I don't want to sound like an American Idol wannabe."

A lot of photographers have convinced themselves that they aren't photographers just because they're not at the
place in their journey that they'd like to be or they feel far behind where others are at in their own journeys.

In other areas of life, this would sound silly, if not ludicrous:

Imagine an Olympian in training looking at the current Olympian and thinking, "He or she is { SO } far ahead of me. I should stop training. There's no way I'm going to get there."

Silliness.

The only way you can get from a training athlete to Olympic gold medal is by trying and training and pouring yourself out into making yourself better step by step.

I used to beat myself up so badly on the inside and would get so discouraged that I'd swear off ever shooting again. I'd think, "What's the point? I'll never be as good as him or her. So why try? I quit."

The problem is that I was not allowing myself to see the potential that has been invested into my life and I wasn't giving myself a chance to cultivate that talent and see what I could do with it.

A lightbulb that hasn't been plugged into an outlet remains a dead bulb. The potential is sure there, but without a power source, it remains useless. Wasted energy.

I didn't want to be that unplugged lightbulb. I wanted to plug myself into training myself as a photographer and trying to grow the talents that God has invested into my life. I wanted to dig my heels in and see what my life was made of.

The Bible talks about a master who gave his servants a certain amount of talents each. Each was to be responsible and invest those talents and grow them. Two of the servants invested them and yielded a return and were blessed with so much more. The third, however, buried his talents {$$$} and brought back only the unused amount he was given.

How many dreams are packed away on the shelves of people's hearts, collecting dust because they've been afraid to dream--because they feel like someone else's dream is so much bigger and better than their own? How many talents are we waiting to see and experience in our own lives because someone's packed them away and aren't using them?

When fear gets in the way and stunts growth, it takes away a piece of beauty that we all could have enjoyed and relished in.

Still not convinced?

Think back to kindergarten when you first learned how to tie your shoes. I'll bet you felt pretty clumsy tying them for the first time. You probably had to try several times before you could even get it CLOSE to looking like a decent bow. If you had gotten frustrated, you could have given up....but then you would still be wearing Velcro shoes even now as an adult because you weren't willing to be uncomfortable for awhile to learn and grow in your skill.

You are unique.

You are special.

You have a gift that no one else has.

It's up to { you } to discover, develop and cultivate those things and grow them until they reach their full potential.

How will you know what potential lies in something unless you try and invest into discovering it?

Here's my challenge to you photographers out there:

 { For all you who doubt your talents and who feel like you fall so short of other photographer's skills }

1. Stop comparing yourself to other photographers.

You should never want to be like them.

You have something unique of your own to bring to the table.

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

-- Judy Garland

2. Be patient with yourself.

The photographers that you admire did not get to where they're at overnight and neither will you. It takes patiently applying yourself and getting better at what you do one step at a time. Commit yourself to growing and guaging your own personal growth.

3. Look at other photographer's blogs.

Find photographers that you like and look at their very first blog post ever. Then look at their most recent. I promise you, you will see an amazing transformation. This was one of the most freeing things for me to do because I realized that each of the people I was admiring had started off in a place that is very similar to where I'm at now. They are where they're at today because they tenaciously applied themselves to growing their craft and skill and didn't stop growing. Look at your own first post and where you are at today and you'll see growth.

"Don't get intimidated. Get inspired." --Jen O'Sullivan

The college president at the college I used to attend encouraged me to follow my dreams. I encourage you to do the same. A lot of times your success will be determined on whether or not you believe that you can { or cannot } succeed. We're more likely to succeed { or fail } based on what we first believed in our own hearts.

Believe that you can do it.

It will take time and a lot of effort, but commit yourself to learning and discovering your untapped potential.

I can't wait to see the gifts you share with the world one day.

And remember......

 

"Everyone starts somewhere." --Pati Pakulis