By the time he finished his impromptu lecture I was so annoyed I could barely stand it.
I walked into a small gallery to see if there were any opportunities to organize a show for our Meetup group.
The gallery owner began by describing his long and tedious jurying process. He then proceeded to lecture me on the kind of art they select. As if I didn't have enough, he closed his 'rant' by explaining his idea of 'real' photography.
The whole experience reminded me of a Seth Godin mantra — pick yourself.
In the old days, we needed to impress a guy like that if we ever wanted to do something significant with our photography. I'm not sure if he knows, but those days are long gone.
We no longer need permission from the gatekeepers of the world to make our impact. Technology and access to publishing tools make it easy for you to make a difference whenever you choose.
Rather than asking a blogger, gallery owner, boss, or anyone else to pick you. Pick yourself first.
This week is a double feature. I knew if I stopped the conversation right there, many of you would walk away thinking I was asking something impossible. You would hear a voice telling you that I was being impractical. I was selling a pie in the sky that just wasn't real. For that reason, I also added a replay of my webinar, Silencing your inner critic.
In that discussion, we confront the internal and external voices that rob us of the opportunity to do our best work. We identify them and provide strategies to deal with them.
Listen to the podcast and see the show notes at bit.ly/shutterbuglife029.
