Why It’s Okay to Fail as a Photographerwww.sleeklens.com
Failure is inevitable, especially in the world of art. It may be difficult to grasp this immediately; an innumerable amount of ideas float in artists’ minds every day, making it hard to store one concept without losing another. Photographers not only want to make the most of every precious thought but work on it successfully. This state of mind can be very overwhelming, especially if hours of hard work end up amounting to nothing. At one point, these artists may start to wonder if embracing other ideas would’ve given them better results.
The truth, however, remains stable. Ideas that appear in the form of unclear yet exciting dreams can’t be perfect. They shouldn’t be. Experience, practice, and success can stop failure from occurring too often, but they won’t obliterate it completely. Whether you recently discovered photography or entered your twentieth year of photo-taking, you have every right to fail. Here is why.
Table of Contents
It Will Give You a Reason to Strengthen Your Patience
In today’s fast-moving world, it’s easy to seek instant gratification everywhere. Social media is filled with notifications, updates, and feedback that motivate people to receive answers within seconds. More often than not, scrolling through your feed is easier than finding new ways to improve. Similarly, it’s easier to bring yourself down than to pick yourself up. While social media can be very handy, it makes patience a difficult skill to obtain.
Failure won’t provide you with immediate satisfaction, but it will open a new door for your patience. Just because a concept didn’t work out doesn’t mean you should give up on it completely. Analyze the problem and try to find a solution for it. This will not only strengthen your problem-solving skills but significantly improve your patience with both art and yourself.
It Will Show You That You’re Not Always the Problem
You’re really not always the problem
. Photographers of all kinds often bump into unpredictable obstacles. Bad moods, people, the weather, time constraints, and other external factors can have a significant impact on your work. Creative mistakes don’t make you unworthy, untalented, or undeserving of personal success. Keep this in mind when something goes wrong again.
Tip: When you feel like a failure, remember your past achievements and current strengths. If that doesn’t work, go to your friends and family for support. You can even do both at the same time. These acts of self-love will give you a small yet significant boost of confidence.
It Will Allow You to Start Over Successfully
Any creative project, regardless of its success, changes an artist. Using your new experience, you can work on the same projects with an improved mindset. Previous mistakes will come in handy and give you more room to learn and to grow. You won’t face the same problems because you’ll be an improved version of yourself.
By starting over, you’ll strengthen your perseverance, a skill that’s highly valued in every workplace. The next time you bump into an unpleasant problem, treat it like an opportunity to get better at living. What you learn from your creative mistakes will help you in other areas of your life. Perseverance and patience will improve your relationships, strengthen your reputation, and increase your self-confidence.
Most Importantly, It Will Make You Brave
Failure isn’t a creativity-obliterating beast or an unstoppable negative force. It’s not a person whose goal is to spite you. It’s not even a reflection of your incompetence as a photographer. In reality, failure is the perfect excuse to get up and try again. It can be seen as a friend who willingly points out your mistakes and gives you another chance to start all over again. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you’ll find your own courage. Though this courage won’t entirely eliminate your fear of failure, it will stop you from letting mistakes bring you down.
Failure is meant to help you improve as an artist. Instead of thinking of it as the end of the world, look at it as the beginning of a new creative chapter. Failure, it turns out, is just a bunch of wonderful opportunities in disguise, so go out there and embrace them.
I'm an admirer of nature, a photographer, and a curious reader. Writing about photography and helping others improve is a growing passion of mine. My constant wish is to inspire others to be creatively fearless and endlessly curious.
"Always dream bigger is my advice to you, because you can have whatever your heart desires"
- Ashley Graham
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Comments (1)
Nice, like it a lot