In life and in photography, compare to yourself only

I opened up my Instagram this morning and browsed through my news feed. I only follow a handful of crafty photographers. I have gone through several posts, liked and commented on some. Without thinking, quite intuitively, I switched to my explore page and browsed there for a while. 30 minutes have gone and somehow I felt empty, unsatisfied and to be honest, quite unhappy about my work (Let’s come back to this bit later, OK?).

Why is that? I ask myself. Why, after seeing so much nice work I feel disengaged, demotivated?

After a short contemplation and talking to my wife (she always has something insightful to say) I think this is what happens:

• I, and my work, are at a certain stage
• I am not fully aware of what that stage is
• Others, who I admire and follow, are at a different stage of their artistic creative journey
• There is a misalignment between self-perceived worth and how I judge and value the work of others
• Its art! You cannot compare art! More likes don’t mean a better photograph!

OK then, so when looking at others’ work, I and maybe you too, subconsciously compare ourselves to what others are doing and how their work impacts us. This is so very wrong and I am not sure why we are wired this way. Is it envy? Maybe.

It’s good to have heroes, but…

The great thing about today’s democratic way of sharing information is that we have instant access to anything. Information, communication, learning, entertainment. Experiencing art also became instant.

One image after another in an endless stream of great imagery. This easily, along whit the above analysis, leads to comparing yourself to others, demotivation, low self-esteem, self-doubt and for many, this even means giving up their art. Why bother if everyone is so good and so damn-many times a day!

If we want to consume art online we have to be our curators and that’s not easy. In museums and art galleries, you’d have people with years of experience and great taste in art to decide what you get to see and in what order! Online, the algorithm decides.

By gaining instant access, we give up the work of curators and their narrative.

What I would like to propose is this:

Mindful art observation.

When looking at other’s work, be your curator. Here are a few things I try to do:

• be mindful when opening up your social media. What is my purpose in doing so?
• choose only a few photographers/artists to follow
• observe their art — What is the composition like and why? How does the light influence the image? How do I feel when looking at it. Why? What was the artist’s goal with the image? — think about the image, give it the time it deserves, not likes (of course you can give likes)
• visit the photographer’s profile and see how that image works with others. Is there any continuity? How does he/she curate their feed?
• spend only a few minutes looking at images altogether

How to be content as a photographer?

How do you feel now? I feel better connected to the art of photography itself.

Suddenly, there is no envy. Instead, admiration, appreciation, and understanding!

I learned something about the artist, his image, his process. Just by mindful observation.

Now, for the next step. Try doing the same with your images. Study yourself. Look at the light you captured. Composition. What did you feel when you took the image? Look at your work from a month ago. A year ago. Five years. Ten, if you did photography back then.

Now that you analyzed your work from the past, can you see how you improved? How do you feel? Can you see the progress? What do you need to do to have the same feeling in a month, a year… or five? Will you be happy if you improve by the same margin? What do you need to do to make that margin larger?

Yes, you could likely have done more over the years. There are others, quicker to create, better to compose, to close clients. But that does not matter. All that matters is your progress. Fussing about others won’t help. Be analytical, investigate, research yourself. Go to others for inspiration, not comparison.

The whole notion of comparison in art is wrong. Be your hero. Be your artist. Be your curator. Its art, your art and as such, don’t scrutinize it. Still not feeling motivated? Check this out.

In life and in photography, compare to yourself only.