Things I HATE.

I always tell my kids, “never use the word hate”. It has bad juju. Whatever juju is. I hear them correcting themselves in my presence. “I just hate that teacher… oh, well, I don’t hate her, but I sure don’t like her very much!!!” I know when they are texting or IM’ing (are they official verbs yet?) their friends, "hate" is probably being used in full force. Someday it will sink in, the meaning, not just the speech pattern.

So I will heed my own warnings…

Things I Greatly Dislike.

Primarily… marketing, advertising, and otherwise selling MYSELF. I have a pretty good business head. A dozen years in the corporate world of NYC set me straight. If I have something I really believe in, I can go on and on about it. Believe me - just look back through my old rants on this blog if you have doubts. Now here comes the irony, the dichotomy, the living contradiction… I really believe in my photography. I just can’t stand to sell myself. Now this is not some new, wild and crazy problem that only I struggle with. I am willing to bet that a large majority of creative individuals who are self-employed struggle with this. If anyone reading this can relate… drop a comment to support my thesis. Or not if that is your case. When the economy is racing along, and work is falling off of trees, it really doesn’t matter. Minimal efforts result in a reasonable return. Think of real estate agents 5 years ago. But now as the market slows (which it has been doing for the last 4 years, but no one seemed to have mentioned it to our politicians until their investment funds were about to take a hit - but that’s another rant&hellip the work is still out there, you just have to work harder to find it. And that means - SELLING ONESELF!!! If I made wooden furniture that might be easier… no wait, furniture may still be too personal… if I was a sheetrocker / drywaller… that would be easy. You either can do it well or you can’t. [Real life - I can’t - I always leave ridges on the joints] Nothing personal about it. But photography is art, and as such it is subjective. Even the most mundane product shot is open to interpretation by the viewer. So with each photo we display - on this blog, my website, promo materials, and of course, all the client uses - out there goes a little bit of our ego. It is out there for the world to see, or maybe not even notice… or worse, not like! And now I have to go out and convince buyers that my work is fabulous!!! I can handle this and that… I make that and this… blah, blah, blah… WHY CAN’T THEY JUST LOOK AT THE PICTURES AND SEE IT?!?!? And then call me with that wonderful assignment! I need to go have dinner right now… [note: procrastination is the enemy of all creatives!!!] More on this in the next post… I will leave you with the motto of the Procrastinators Club:

“Never put off till tomorrow today, what can be put off till tomorrow tomorrow!!!”