Tips for Young Photographers from an “Older” One

I’m not so sure if it’s true that we get wiser as we get older.  I think we just have a lot more time to make mistakes and hopefully learn by them.  When I was first starting out as a photographer, I was extremely fortunate to learn from some of the legends of my time – not just about photography – but all kinds of things.

Gail with children in small village along Amazon River, Peru

I think sometimes that we have become such a youth centric society in America that we forget what we can learn from those who came before us.

Some things I learned along the way:

• Watch out for your “peak” years – most hit those peak earning years during their 30’s and 40’s. When you are at the height of your career, remember to live in the “now” and enjoy the ride. Things change quickly in a creative business.  Be prepared for the peaks and the valleys.
• Stay away from trends and be authentic to yourself – Don’t emulate others’ style, find your own.  Listen to what your inner voice is telling you, despite what happens to be the trend du jour.
• Be proactive – not reactive – Don’t fight change – it’s an impossible task.  Things are always changing. Nothing is static.  Doing nothing is not staying the same – it’s actually going backwards. By the time people react to change – it’s usually too late.
• Say yes more than no – Whenever I’ve been brave enough to say yes to a job that I didn’t think I’d like or be able to handle, it has always turned into one of my most rewarding experiences, either creatively, financially or both.
• Be more vulnerable – if you’re not feeling vulnerable, even at the peak of “success” – you aren’t pushing yourself enough.  During the entire making of my film, Opening Our Eyes, and even now, I have felt vulnerable – first in the journey itself around the world and the trials and tribulations that came with that and now dealing with the rejections that come with submitting the film to top tier film festivals.  But I thrive on the wins and we’ve been honored at so many wonderful festivals and that wouldn’t have happened – if I hadn’t been vulnerable.
• When a door closes – a window always opens if you recognize opportunity – My worst moments have always been followed by my best ones.  Sometimes, something has to happen to motivate me to take the next step.  Unfortunately, when the crappy stuff happens, I feel least empowered and optimistic but I plow ahead because I know this must happen to get me where I need to be.
• You’re never too old to be mentored – I love learning.  In fact I love it more now than I did when I was younger.  I love the whole idea of mentoring and I feel that it works both ways.  When I mentor someone else, regardless of age, I always end up learning as well in the process.
• Marketing & Promotion: Do more pull – less push – The most effective promotion and marketing efforts on my part have been when I’ve spent more time “creating” for the sake of creating, rather than for the intent of marketing.  When I’m working on a project that I am passionate about, people who hear about it take notice and the word spreads.  When that happens, clients or media attention comes to me.  Whenever I have spent more time, “marketing” to potential clients or trying to get publicity, it has never worked.  It’s much better when it happens organically.
• Network outside your profession – I’ve always found it more interesting to engage with people in all sorts of professions.  As a storyteller, I thrive on meeting different people.  As a photographer, it makes sense on many different levels.  I have found that by broadening my circle of friends and colleagues, it has led to many interesting collaborations.
• Making mistakes ISN’T a bad thing – it just means you aren’t afraid to try new things.  Well I should probably not imply that I’m not afraid – quite the contrary – but I don’t let my fears become my reasons not to act on something. I often blog about my mistakes and in fact they consistently are the most read posts.  I think people would rather read about others’ mistakes than read manuals.
• Don’t focus on the gear – focus on the story or the message.  The story never goes out of style.
• There are no overnight successes – just ask anyone.  We just don’t hear about people until they do become a “success”.  Be prepared for rejection along the way because it comes with growth and consistently trying.

How Shooting Video Can Make You a Better Still Photographer

So, many people identify me with video, they tend to forget, that I still create still photos and have had a l-o-n-g career in making them.  I’ve been shooting still images for over 30 years for magazines, corporate clients and advertising, as well as just shooting for the pure joy of doing it – without the need for an assignment or validation from anyone else.

Because so many people seem to assume that I abandoned my still photography when I started to shoot motion, I was surprised and delighted to get a note from a colleague when they spotted a still photograph that I had recently shot in New Zealand.

“Gail, I often hear your voice when I see your still images.  I can’t quite articulate what I mean by that, other than to say that when I look at many of your images, I hear your laugh and feel your smile and warmth come through”. 

He then wrote: “You photo reminded me of the following quote”:

“This is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate.

Kurt Vonnegut

“Thank you Gail for giving us a glimpse of joy and laughter”

I was quite touched by his note and it got me thinking about how my exploration into shooting motion may have played a big part in how I now approach shooting my still images.

 Here are a couple of things that I’ve identified:

• Video has made me a better visual storyteller – That’s because the medium of video is all about storytelling and no other medium does it so well.  It’s made me think about how I will “tell the story” in one still image that is captured as a moment in time.  A good still image should not have to rely on a caption – to tell the story.
• Video has made me think in sequences, with a beginning, middle and end –, This has been a huge boost when I’m creating a pagination of stills.  I think beyond the one image, and what will come before as well as after it, on the printed page. I plan and shoot images with that in mind, thinking not just about the parts of the story, but the whole as well.
• My still images now have a voice – For me one of the most frustrating, yet fulfilling dimensions of video is sound.  Still images on their own, obviously don’t have audio, but they can have a voice.  When I’m shooting stills, I want the viewer to “hear” them as well as to “see” them.
• When I’m shooting video I’m using all manual settings – I’m not on auto-pilot. This makes me think more about the desired look I want to achieve in the final image.
• My still images have become more personal – more authentic. – Now, maybe video didn’t play a direct role in this, but it has pushed me into new territory. When that happens, habits get broken and make way for new possibilities.  In a way, it’s like a new start – a new beginning and that is always an exciting place to be, creatively. It has opened up my eyes to see things differently.

Perhaps most importantly, shooting video has reinforced the notion that my creativity, whether it be motion or stills, has nothing to do with the particular camera that’s in my hands.  The camera is just the facilitator for the stories and images that play out in my head.

At the end of the day – I am a photographer.

Living a Remarkable Life in a Conventional World

Have you ever had an experience that you just don’t want to end?  I have.  I have just returned from

Photo WDS by Chris Guillebeau

The World Domination Summit in Portland, OR and I want the experience to linger on – I don’t want the thoughts and feelings inside to end.

It has been hard and amusing when I try to explain to someone what this conference was all about with a name like The World Domination Summit.  It sparked impromptu conversations with people I met in elevators, in restaurants, or on the street, when they spotted my tag.  I told them that it is a gathering of people – 1000 people – who wanted to live a remarkable life in the conventional world we live in. Unlike other conferences, where attendees come from similar professions – this conference was attended by people of all ages, from college kids to 70 year olds and from all walks off life.  But, everyone had one thing in common – they wanted to live a rewarding life – a life of hope, happiness and possibility.

When I signed up last January, I knew it was bound to be an interesting weekend. I had no idea who the speakers were going to be, but the first WDS that Chris Guillebeau and his team organized last year, was quickly sold out and I didn’t want miss out on this year’s event.  When the tickets were put on sale for this year’s conference – they sold out in 10 minutes.  1000 tickets were sold – 5000 people were waitlisted.  I was one of the fortunate ones.

I should point out another unique thing about this conference – it is entirely done with volunteers.  Even the amazing speakers volunteer  – speakers like Brene Brown, Scott Harrison, Scott Belsky, and Chris Brogan.  There were informative and quirky workshops like “ The Right-Brain Business Plan: Turn Passion into Profit” to “Mondo Beyondo Meetup: What are your Superpowers” and there were plenty of other meetups around town, one could find out about on the WDS.fm twitter page.

I met the most interesting people, from all over the world and it was easy to pick up on other people’s enthusiasm and energy. 1000 people who thought a little bit different from the status quo. – people who looked at the whole notion of “business” differently.  They understood the importance of both serendipity and strategy, the power of mentoring and leading by service and soul.

After the final keynote speaker, Chris Guillebeau announced that he had a surprise.  He stood on the stage with an empty chair beside him and talked about the conference itself.  How it had doubled in size from the first year to the next and how he capped it at 1000 people, even though he had another 5000 people on the waiting list.  He talked about the fact that the conference had no sponsors and that nothing was promoted – there was a table where one could buy some of the speakers’ books but they were never promoted. Chris said he decided not to have sponsors because he didn’t want to devote time to sponsor announcements. And then he said that an anonymous donor came forward and made a sizable donation.  Chris and his team talked a lot about what they would do with this money and they decided to give it back to all of the attendees.  And then he told us that when we left the theater we would be handed an envelope with a note and a $100 bill!  Chris and his team of volunteers would be handing out $100,000.

As I left the theater I received an envelope with a crisp new $100 in it wrapped around a note that said:

The $100 Investment

Thanks for making the #WDS2012 a fantastic experience.  We’d love to see how you can put these funds to good use.  Start a project, surprise someone, or do something entirely different – it’s up to you.

The World Domination Summit

Incidentally, when we first checked in for the summit, we were handed our credentials, a t-shirt, and a backpack.  Inside the backpack was a stainless steel water bottle and Chris’s new book “The $100 Startup“.

I don’t think there will be one person who received that envelope that day who won’t think twice about spending that $100.  And think about the power in that – think about the possible outcomes.  That’s a refreshing way to look at “business”.  If that type of philosophy has a chance of dominating the world – I’m all for it.

“Unused creativity is not benign. It turns into grief judgment and shame.”Brene Brown – speaker at WDS 2012

Vision vs Trends

I find that many creative (and not so creative) people confuse the meaning of the two words – vision and trends.  When someone has a vision, they see past the status quo, whereas by the time something becomes a trend – it is status quo.  Seems clear to me, and yet for the most part, the common perception of what a trend is – hot, successful, youthful, revolutionary – really isn’t visionary at all, because by the time it becomes a trend – everyone is doing it.

Case in point.  Four years ago, when I joined the board of ASMP, some may have seen me as a visionary because of my early foray into video.  Four years later, it seems like everybody is doing video.  Does that make me a visionary?  Perhaps.  But I need to make a very important point here, and that is when I started shooting video almost 15 years ago, it was not because I had a vision, that the future of photography would be video.  It was because I saw myself then – and still do – as a storyteller and one who delivers the visual message, with whatever creative tools do it best.

I get super frustrated with people who define me by the type of camera (tool) I choose to use.  Anyone who has heard me speak, knows my mantra is “it’s not about the tool”. So for anyone to narrowly define me by this one particular medium – video – instead of  understanding that I foresee the  “future of photography” in the broadest sense of the word “photography”,  – are only seeing me through their own “narrow” lens.

I’ve spent a lifetime, trying not to pigeonhole myself into one genre or medium and to stay true to myself and what my instincts are telling me, rather than to jump on the latest trend. I can tell you this – by the time something is trendy – there’s nothing gutsy or visionary about jumping on that bandwagon.

Being visionary is:

• Taking a risk based on instincts instead of emulating the latest trend.
• Being concerned about the substance of something – not just the packaging and the veneer. Thinking that way will make you outlive any trend.
• Being afraid, yet still being brave enough to act on what your inner voice is telling you.
• Managing to be bold enough to come forward with an idea that is not the popular opinion du jour.
• Not getting in your own way by seeing yourself through only one narrow lens – In the early 1900’s, when the automobile hit the scene, the folks in the horse and buggy business who saw themselves in the transportation business survived – the ones who saw themselves as in the horse and buggy business………well we know what happened to them.

I won’t get into politics here, except to say that sadly these days, so many of our world “leaders” are not visionaries and we desperately need leaders who are. But that takes courage and going against the status quo.  It’s far easier to follow others, after they have paved the way.  That’s not only a lack of vision – that’s bad leadership.