Sep 22, 2022
Creative Jealousy: Encouragement to the Photographer
If You Compare Yourself To Others, Read This
As a photographer, I’ve been at the point where I compared my work with many people in my circle and that is not a bad thing. It’s good. I can say this because the more you compare your work, the more you get to notice your flaws and places which you excel at.
I only compare my work to photographers who are doing better than I am. I bet you can agree on that. You do not go comparing your work with someone who is not better than you in terms of work. In an age of “self love” and all, you’re told not to compare your work with anyone, for your work is special and all that. Now, don’t buy into that. You need change. You need not stay at the place you’ve been for 5 years. You need to learn.
The more you curse yourself with the idea that you’re special and you do not need to change, you’re going to remain stuck, especially if you are running your photography as a business. Comparing your work to your betters is a good and healthy thing to do. Now, what is not healthy?
What is not healthy is comparing yourself or your self-worth with another. It’s easy to fall into this trap. Wen you see your colleagues going ahead of you in terms of business, you want to ask them how they are doing it. Good colleagues will help you out. This will help you not to have a creative jealousy.
Now, having a creative jealousy can end your career before it starts. Jealousy is a state of resentment, and it robs you of your own joy and jealousy never ends well. It does one thing to the artist, to stop you from creating.
You can experience this when you compare your “self” to another because making photos or art is more than creating with some tool. It’s about creating with the heart.
This jealousy breeds fear and overshadows confidence. When this happens, the artist who is affected is scared to make anything productive and, out of resentment, will not publish her work.
You are not inferior to the people you admire. They only know something you do not. You’re not a bad photographer, you just lack some vital information which differentiates you and them. Yes, that is the power of information. Sometimes you only need to know one or two things to be ready to take off.
If you have not heard it yet, you’re an amazing artist. You have a great audience. If it’s about monetising, there are lots of courses online (free courses) which can help you learn to monetise. I love to use YouTube a lot. You can learn a lot on that website. Stop comparing the self with another self. You are different. You can be like them and more. Take your tool and create more and more and even more.
If this article brought you value, I bet you’ll love my YouTube content. I’m still trying to find my voice on YouTube and, um, thank you. Subscribe if you love what I put on here.
