I cannot believe the last time I wrote a blog post was June 2021. I have failed to keep the promise I made back then, but this leads me beautifully on to why do we fail in our photography, and how that is linked to all the other circumstances in which we “think” we have failed?

 

kissed by the moon

Failure is such a great word to start with. We don’t like to think about it, talk about it, or focus on it, but it is with us pretty much every day of our lives. I believe it is important to think of definitions as fluid, rather than fixed, as this allows a far more perspective based and circumstantial attitude to be taken. Much of what we view as empirical failure isn’t, we are just labelling it as such.

Probably the first mistake people make is to believe that everything in life can be measured, analysed, categorised and planned for in the same way. Many analytical, technically-minded people struggle with their creativity for just this reason, it does not fit the plan or comply to their reference framework  – that of empirical truth.

Equally, people, who some would class as artsy, or naturally creative, can also doubt themselves because of the very lack of empirical evaluation of worth. Think of creatives living on a typical bell distribution curve. Is the most creative work being done at the middle peak where most people inhabit, or at the thin edges at the sides?

Creativity and expression are essentially subjective and therefore fall outside the parameters of truth. Creativity is more or less the opinion of the artist given their beliefs, values and intent. There is no universal language of aesthetics (despite 3000 years of philosophy trying to prove there is.) – there may be common ground, but you have to come to terms with the fact that not only will people not understand your images, they actively and vocally dislike them.

I joke often that, as a life-long fan of the Canadian rock band RUSH, I am used to people not liking the same music as me, but I am okay with it, because I know what I like and I am happy with my choices. I am sure you are too. You would be most upset if someone came into your house and changed the music on your stereo! The very thought is absurd and preposterous. So why, when we get an image review do we feel compelled to change the image until other people are happy?

We are trained throughout our younger years to climb the ladder, to compete for jobs, for partners, for status, for sustainable growth. It becomes hard-wired and we become a slave to not only the external pressures of comparative judgement, but the never-ending white noise of our own self-deprecation. Our constant inner companion, and as I described him in my Out of Darkness “our very own malignant narcissist.”

This however, is a cycle that can be broken, but it takes effort. But my question to you is this, what is the cost of not challenging the inner narrative?

I cover more of the reasons of why we fail in my most recent YouTube Video posted below, but I will leave you with my newest favourite quote from my mentor:

“What cannot be changed, should be endured, and what cannot be endured, should be changed.”
Neil Peart