Stephen Walton Photography Workshops

If you’re reading this, I already know you suffer from this.

Fear is engrossing and captivating in a bad way, and for a photographer, it can be hard to escape.

The first step in dealing with a problem is knowing it exists in you. For photographers, the fear of never being good enough is an irrational fear without a measurement.

What is ‘Good Enough?’

Oh, by the way, there is no answer if you’re looking for it…

…’Good enough’ is subjective, you can put a yardstick on it if you wish, but my standard may be different to yours, so how can you rate something when no one agrees on a universal standard? Therefore the truth is, you’re only competing against yourself by saying ‘it’s not good enough’. And what’s the point in that?

What good can come from putting yourself down repeatedly and expecting to hit great goals in the short term? I can’t think of a single artist who has gained notoriety this way.

How to Deal with Fear

What is the ‘fear’ you feel? Is it;

• Fear of others improving faster than you
• Fear of never seeing improvement
• Fear of not getting those all-important social ‘likes’
• Fear of wasting your time
• Fear of your equipment

5 Ways to Stop Being Scared as a Photographer

They are all irrational fears as they are ALL created in your mind and easy to solve. Here is a quick trouble-shooter on what you should do instead to shake those shackles of ‘fear’;

• Don’t compare yourself to others. There is no gain in looking at Lewis Hamilton and wondering why you can’t do Japanese Drifts around Sainsbury’s car parks. You’re on different paths, so just look ahead – not across.

• If you don’t have a goal to work towards then you’ll never be able to see the little wins you need. Improvement is small in photography but incremental when chased. Set some goals and focus on them.

• What if I told you there were as many bot accounts on social media as there are real people. Would you value ‘Likes’, retweets, and hits if it was all computerized to give you that little rush of endorphins and make you come back for more? Does that improve you as a photographer or just slave to someone else’s agenda and money-making platform?

• If you follow these points, you’ll never waste your time as a photographer, if you don’t, you will.

• Learn what you’ve bought, read manuals, read books, take a course, watch videos and discover what photography is rather than assuming the camera knows. It’s not a smart camera, it’s a tool – you’re the smart bit so get educated.

While it’s impossible to fully eradicate fear in art it’s vital to grasp why it’s surrounding you and how you tackle it.

Get in touch and let me know what you think and experience.