There are a many things that can keep your camera sitting in it’s bag, on your desk, in your closet, or wherever you keep it when you’re not using it.

Sometimes you’re waiting for inspiration.

Perhaps you’ve been to “busy”.

Maybe you’re just out of ideas or you have nothing to go out and shoot.

These are crap excuses really.

These, by the way, are all excuses I’ve used and there are a hundred more that are more specific to you and why you haven’t been getting more out of your camera.  Still, they’re all crap.

The one thing, I’ve found, that can really put a stop on my photography, and likely yours, is fear.

FEAR

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” – Sven Goran Eriksson

We fear failure.

It’s easy to get scared that you’ll put in all this time on your photography and nothing will come of it.

You’ll never get the recognition you deserve.

You’ll make a wrong business decision.

You’ll make a bad creative judgment.

There are a hundred of those that are specific to you as well.

So what do we, as creatives, as artists, as photographers do about fear?

How do we conquer fear?

I say we tackle it head on.

I say we grab our cameras and point our lenses directly at the thing that keeps us awake at night cowering under our blankets praying that (insert specific fear) will go away.

This isn’t so easy to do.  That’s okay.  Nothing that’s worth doing is supposed to be easy all of the time.

Conquering fear is a long journey.  It’s hard on everybody but I believe that artists tend to have to trek this journey much more often than most other individuals.  Perhaps it’s because we constantly find ourselves reflecting on the work that we do and we often compare it to our colleagues and our contemporaries.

Whatever journey you have to take as a photographer the first and most important step is to recognize your fear.  You have to say it out loud.

You have to put it in context so that you will know what you’re up against.

If you don’t know your foe how can you defeat him?

So I want you to do that today.  I want you to take a good look in the mirror and find the biggest thing that’s holding you back as a photographer.

Now use the comments section below, if you wish, to talk about your fear.  I think you’ll find this a good exercise that will put your artistry or your photography business back on track to success.

Share your biggest creative and/or business fears as they relate to your photography!

There is no greater illusion than fear – 37/365 by LittleRedCera