It’s official. The rockstar is dead.
Dead, gone, and six feet under.
But if the patina has worn thin and we’ve been rubbed a little raw, now that our unvarnished lives are out there for everyone to see, what becomes all too apparent is the single burning question we have yet to answer. What next?
The rockstar was nothing but the worst in us all. Hope hemorrhaging on dreams of quick money and good times in exchange for the belief we could all be the next big thing if we just learned to wash, rinse, and repeat.
We killed the rockstar, but wash, rinse, and repeat is exactly what we have left.
There are more tips, more tricks, more advice, and more more than ever before. We’re awash in knowledge. Search brand. Search SEO. Search marketing. Search sales. It’s all there. By this point, if you’re not finding it, you’re not looking.
But no amount of information is going to do the trick.
The industry is running scared. Bodies crowded, flesh to flesh, mouths open, gasping for air. And we wait. Counting the inquiries. Waiting for revelation. We dangle on the hook ready for the next shot of adrenaline to keep us going. Just get a little more knowledge, a little more cash, and we can keep the raft afloat until we hit solid ground.
It’s not enough. The downgrade from an economy of hope to an economy of survival may be a correction, but it’s not a cure. Because all the information in the world will do nothing for us, if we have nothing to use it for.
We chased our dreams. We followed the bill of goods we were sold. Find your passion. Find the thing you love. Make that your life’s work. And we found something we loved, but we have been let down. Because what no one told us was how to keep that passion alive.
The truest problem in the age of the rockstar had nothing to do with broken promises and unfulfilled dreams. Like the day after any party, the real disappointment comes when we wake up in the cold morning light with the hangover pounding, and the emptiness is still there when we ask “What’s next?”
So often, it’s the very reason we started taking pictures. To quell the nagging voice in the back of our heads, asking if there was more, asking what was next, and wondering who we were. Photography was the answer. The thing that set us free and let us be, in this world, as part of it, with purpose and power and feeling.
But as the days grew longer, and the nights got harder, we were slammed into the wall. We can run our hardest, but we can never catch up, because what’s next is always an arm’s length away. It’s always out of reach. It’s the carrot in front of the stick, and it’s never going to be here in the now, when the here and now is the only thing we ever have.
It’s a question we can never answer.
But we can stop asking.
These are hard times to be sure. But the choice is always the same. You can put full faith in the present or you can let the doubt swallow you whole, because when you wait for the money and the likes, and dwell in the tension and fear, you diminish your power and bypass all the potential of the now to build a hollower, emptier future.
Committing to the moment lets you find the future you need and forget the future you want. Do what matters. Reconnect with the stories you need to tell. Start writing the unwritten tomorrow.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Look. Act.
Now, I’m not saying business doesn’t matter. But Duke Ellington had it right: It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. Do not create a business that pits you against yourself. Our security against our freedom. Our ego against our creativity. Don’t let your vision detach itself from your destination. The question isn’t how to get it done. It’s how to get it done your way.
It’s fully true that you don’t need to take great pictures to make a great living, but it’s so often said, and we’re too often mislead, because when you connect the dots and relentlessly stuff your products so full of your vision that they’re ready to burst at the seams, you’re worth your very most.
The trick is so deceptively simple. What’s true is selling only the quality of your images is a perilous proposition. But what’s too often left out is that the dedication to delivering your very best – all of the exploration, the toil, the craft, and the art – these are the most powerful weapons in your arsenal to build the exact story people will hire you for.
The world craves the real, but it’s a story you can’t fake to make. You’ve gotta hit the ground hard, keep on the move, and push your way through. True grit is the stuff of real legend, and skipping it is the surest way to find yourself back at the end of the party, wondering what’s next. So if your very best doesn’t matter to your business, change things up and make it so, or else you’re wasting the very power of the stories you have.
We’re blessed with a task that asks us to dwell in the present. You can’t engage in the act of photography without some vision, some direction, and some place you’re trying to go. We don’t always know what it is. We don’t always know how to get there. But don’t lose faith before you arrive. Dive headlong. Find your verve. Find your vector. Find your little corner in the universe, and build from there.
Are you moving forward with heart and dedication? Are you living boldly? If you can just see the movement, that’s enough. Because once you lock-on to even the smallest sliver of that person you are, you’ll never need to think about washing, rinsing, or repeating ever again.
Needed encouragement. Thanks
Anytime.
Spencer:
I find your writings to be true for the every man. The false idea that everything is perfect if you only do “This” is a lie. Photography is ultra personal, you are the vision, you as the photographer create as you see. Finding people who appreciate how you see things is very important. I want people to engage me because they like how I see. If my work is like the current trend then I may as well be vanilla. If I played guitar exactly like Eddie Van Halen then I could join a Van Halen cover band and totally lose my identity, get it?
The cool kids Rockstar Photographer is very much dying, the BS that it was only has a five year cycle, think back five years and those cool kids are pretty much gone, maybe replaced or simply there is an empty space. If I end up being like Vivian Maier, noted long after my death I consider that a major accomplishment. Screw the money, if I cannot be me and be happy with me than I am a fraud. I have my doubts as any person about who I am with a camera. Success means what? Money? Sure to make money hand over fist would be cool but I do not photograph purely for the money. I have to feel like I am progressing, improving upon who I am with a camera. There are so many great photographers, no one is better than me, they are just different. Some photographers who are internationally known are not so good with a camera in my opinion but, they are famous, make good money and are accepted. Do you accept yourself?
Some of the best work I feel I have ever done was during the time of your workshop in July of 2012. My Arteries & Veins project in New York is solid, I can say this with 100% honesty. I do not apologize for anything I shot that week, I worked my ass off because I had to impress one person, me. Your comments regarding everyones efforts were well thought out, honest and not full of fluff. I still remember you defining my style as Clean & Tight. I think of this all of the time. As i push myself and get mega-frustrated, poised off and unsatisfied I do find that I am happy with who I am as a photographer. It is about the journey for me, a long bumpy road.
As always, Gary, just some great, thoughtful feedback that cuts through the bull. Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly. Love stories like Vivian Maier’s. I was just reading an interview with Saul Leiter, and it was so inspiring to me that it was about doing the work and not this constant cycle of self-promotion, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s good to get some pay. But it’s better to do the work.
You – all of you – made it work, really, and I feel like I was just lucky to be there on that ride. I’ve gotta say, it was hard – it really kept me on my toes and made me push and think about what to say, who to nudge, and how to be useful, and I have to admit, I’d never have thought my words would stick in someone’s head that long, so thank you – very much – for sharing about that week.
Good stuff Spencer. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Many thanks!
Spencer,
Once again, you’ve written EXACTLY what I need to hear at this moment in my journey: stop worrying about the future and focus on the now. Plenty of non-photographers in my life have advised me to just have blind faith that everything will work out, but I needed to hear it from someone who has been there.
You’ve just earned your second listing in my “Kick in the Butt” bookmark folder, right up there with a James Rhodes interview, Neil Gaiman’s commencement speech, and Zack Arias’ Transform video.
Thank you!
Tyler
Wow, high marks and good company to be in, Tyler. Thank you!!
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