Another great article from Wayne
As I was racking my brain on something more I could add to my discussions on my website, I was really having a tough time coming up with something new to say. Then, I figured I would try something different this week. So this week it started as a departure from my usual topics, and found out it came full circle.
As you know, Chris has been doing a lot with photography lately. Well, I, along with two other friends, have been taking this journey with him, as I mentioned last week. We are all amateurs trying to help each other out with hardware, software, composition, lighting, what looks good and what doesn’t. What we have found out that photography is definitely not a cut and dry process. What looks good to one person can look boring and drab to another. One thing that I personally have learned is this is not only a learning process, but I have to open up myself and accept it when someone doesn’t actually like what I have done. It was hard at first, trust me, but as you actually look harder at not only your pictures, (writing, podcasts,) but at yourself, you start to understand something.
With photography, with podcasting, blogging, or whatever; you put in front of people what you know and like. Whenever you do this, you open up yourself like nothing else. In social situations, until you get to know me personally, I’m pretty much an introverted type of guy. Once I have friends and start feeling comfortable, I flip and become very extroverted. Even so, with new situations and projects, everyone has certain lines that can be crossed by others that make them want to say, as Eric Cartman would so eloquently put it, “well, screw you guys, I’m going home.”
The only way to counteract this sort of behavior is true soul-searching. Looking at what you’ve done, looking at the criticisms, and putting yourself in others position. I found out it is exactly like blogging and podcasting. You need to know your audience. This does not mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that you feel you have to change or do one thing different. This is extremely important to understand. You do what you do.
However. Blogging, podcasting, photography, painting, whatever hobby your into where you put yourself on stage, know that there will be others that don’t see exactly what you do. And that’s OK. But also know that if you don’t follow a certain amount of standards or guidelines, soon you might not have an audience. You do your thing, but learn the basics and you’ll find out that people aren’t just being polite when they tell you what they think. Especially when it’s pleasing to their eye or ear.