How to stand out in the crowd.

Over the past blog-less week I have spent my time visiting Texas, and was it a busy mini-vacation! In 4 days we put 1100 miles on the rental car, dined at fine roadside bbq joints several times, stopped to smell the roses in six cities while completely ignoring the flowering plants growing in the cow patties of shanty towns we decided not to invade with our ever exuding city slickness (by this I mean having all of our teeth, wearing shoes, and shirts!). We visited with four Austin Ames' (my family), met 30 of my husbands near, distant, and grandfathered in family members, and am pretty sure we were dosed with some of that hillbilly Sasquatch fearing fever during our night "Hide and Go Jeep" game at Uncle Joes! What a efficient and excellent trip!
During the trip and all the meet and greets I found that two of husbands family members were photographers, one of which has a budding wedding photographic business and the other more of a holly hobbyist. I pondered this thought, 3 in 30 people or 10% of the population is into photography. If this small sample of the population holds true for the larger picture, this would mean an estimated 31 million of the current estimated population (compliments of the US Census Bureau July 2012) is into exactly the same hobby and business as I. Kind of a petrifying thought actually, 1 in 10 people are self proclaimed photographers. This leads to further thought process... how does a new photographer, seasoned photographer, or even senior photographer combat a quickly rising population of photographers? Two words, YOU DONT! I have learned so much these past few years from other photographers, its amazing the things classes and tutorials dont teach you. Real life experience with real life photographers teaches you invaluable things, here are some of the invaluable ideas I have learned:

1. Never underestimate yourself, or anyone else for that matter. You never know how experienced, or inexperienced, one is.  By not assuming I am more experienced that anyone else or know more than another photographer I am eliminating the biases that come with that ignorance. Everyone can learn something from other people, even if it is as small as a change in point of view, or if it is as magnanimous as understanding depth of field.

2. Never assume just because you have taken a class you understand the principles taught in that class and can make them work in a real life situation, I have proven this fact so many times to myself with ruined photos! Nothing beats practice! You can memorize every word in a book but without putting your new found knowledge into action its useless and usually unmemorable.

3. Find what you are good at, what you love, or what you have the "eye" for and be the best you can at that thing. I am an excellent sports photographer, and more recently a landscape photographer. Being good at these types of photography is my specialty, can I do wedding and portrait photography? Sure. Do I want to? Not really. Do I make exceptions to my rule for special people? Sure. Do I turn down work because of lack of experience in that field? Yes. Do I mind turning down the work? Not really. Are other people more experienced than me in these areas? Absolutely.  Knowing your own limitations is not the same as underestimating yourself, learn your difference.

4. Learn your equipment. You cant pull off the shot you want without knowing every single button on your camera. The sun might set quicker than you anticipated, you need to know how to get that same shot with half the light. The shutter you have selected might not be fast enough, you might need to change it in an instant to not miss your opportunity. Or the background might not be appealing, learning how to blow out the background in a split second might be the only way to save the shot. These are some of the real life in-field situations you will be faced with, and if you cant change that setting you cant get that shot.

5. Continue your education. I found a local Meet-Up group of photographers and we go on photo safaris, it might sound completely nerdy but when a man with 40 years of experience gives me a business/photo/camera tip I consider it a free gift from the photo-gods. You hear that? Free. Free experience and expertise from a man who has paid for and earned 40 years of it just because I listened to him talk. Learn from the best and aspire to be your best. Take workshops, there is probably one closer than you imagine, and if there isn't Improve Photography and Digital Photo School have some really great online workshops, articles, and tips for your implementation and absorption.

This is all I have for now, as I battle off the other sports and landscape photographers in my neck of the woods (pun intended) I will continue to blog about things I find pertinent in the photographic world.