In last week’s article, I discussed three mistakes to avoid when building a career as a photographer or filmmaker. Today, let’s look at three broader concepts that you might want to lean on.
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know
Let’s start with my least favorite fact about this life. As a staunch introvert, I must admit that interacting with groups of people is my least favorite part of the job. Not that I hate people, miss you. I am mesmerized by people. That’s why I’ve built a career where I’m allowed to stare at them for as long as I want without being seen as scary.
I consider it a testament to how much I love my art, even though I am willing to interact with people so much to get the right to do so. But, whatever my ambitions, basically, social interactions drain me and require long periods of isolation to recover. So a world in which I can picture my creations in my head, then magically snap my fingers and bring them to life without ever leaving the house is certainly fascinating. To me.
But sadly, that’s not how the real world works. In the real world, unless you shoot landscapes or still lifes purely as a hobby, at some point you will have to depend on others. If you shoot portrait subjects, you will at least need a model. If you are a commercial photographer, you will need to interact with clients. Assuming you plan to actually get paid, that is.
I live in Los Angeles. It’s a city with endless possibilities. But it’s also a city where the adage “not what you know, but who you know” may be more valid than anywhere else in the world. When I was 16, I couldn’t even get my first job, working at McDonald’s, until a family friend called for help. When it comes to entering the exclusive world of high-end commercial photography or Hollywood filmmaking, the volume of networking required increases to eleven.
But that means, if you, like most people, weren’t born into an industrial family or had the good fortune of growing up next to Steven Spielberg, you were doomed from the start. ? Of course not. It just means, if the name of the game is you know who, then you need to make an effort to know more people.
You have to spend a lot of time networking, making random calls, accidentally/unintentionally being in the same place as important people who will stumble across them when you are devoted to your apprenticeship. I know it sucks. I also wish I could live in a truly democratic world where the only thing that matters is your skill set and the people who work the hardest in their craft will always win. But, as they say, reality bites.
That’s why last week, in addition to scripting a new project and preparing for another, I spent no less than 30 hours networking and shaking hands. This has been a particularly busy social week, as one of my films enters the film festival. So there’s a lot of handshakes condensed into a one-week period, in addition to lunches, dinners, other networking coffees, and official Zoom calls that have nothing to do with the festival. But shaking hands with everyone, from event organizers, to industry insiders, to people just wandering the streets when they see that a party is going on, is exactly the way to go. opportunity for people to discover your art. That doesn’t mean you can skip being great at your craft in the first place. If your job sucks, knowing the right people won’t suddenly endow you with talent. But what’s the point if only you know about it? Doing this hard work to expand your network opens the door for more people to see how talented you really are.
And just as a side note, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the network only connects the vertical of the tree. Sure, we all want to suddenly find ourselves talking to the CEO of company XYZ at a dinner party. But today’s busker is tomorrow’s head chef. Treating everyone with respect, regardless of their current rank, is the best way to build a lasting network that can continue to grow even when one particular person is in power. Likewise, connecting with your fellow artists, even though they may not be in a position to directly hire you, can also lead to future connections. At worst, it can give you solid friendships and people you can turn to to help navigate your way forward. Or maybe just an extra pair of hands when you need help in times of trouble.
Know when to hold ’em, know when to rush’ em
Time changes. It is a fact of life. Your only role in that process is to decide how to change or whether to change with them.
If you have read any of my previous articles, you may at some point openly wonder if I am, in fact, a well-rounded educator. And, yes, you would be right to say that I am really the old man holding the faucet telling the kids to “get off my lawn”. I am that guy. I am a person who likes a clear set of rules. I am a regular person. So drastic changes in the landscape can often be met with skepticism.
But we live in a world where not only are new cameras released every three months, but it seems like technology has come along that has dramatically changed the way we work every three minutes. I can’t turn my back for even a second without hearing about something new that photographers just need to do to stay relevant. Film versus digital. DSLR vs mirrorless. Vertical video. AI art. It can make you spin if you don’t twist enough.
Of course, the transitory thing is that they are only temporary. In the world of social media, there is something new every day. And just because something seems like a big thing today, possibly the result of an invisible consortium driving the idea, most fads aren’t here to stay. .
But some are. So you can’t just bury your head in the sand and wish everything was gone. I’ve been trying to get rid of reality TV for 30 years. Bad luck. I tried to ignore superhero movies for 25 years. The unlucky, the unfortunate. I still hope that social networking was never invented. Well, you can see how well that wish is working out. Sometimes, things get stuck in zeitgeist and are here to stay.
you may have read my piece a few months ago about the art of AI. I won’t do it again here. Mainly because I can’t talk about the subject without starting an eight-hour debate about the intellectual property rights of artists. But two things are true. First, AI will massively upset the photo industry, fundamentally change the way we work, and put many photographers out of business. That is actual fact based on market forces. The latter is true that, no matter how much I object, AI is going nowhere at all. There’s no way you’re putting that genie back in the bottle. So how would you react to it?
I decided to do my best to learn it inside and out, figure out how it could help me, but also be acutely aware of how much it would hurt me. Try to stay ahead of it because, unlike Chia Pet, this is not a new technology. It is here to survive and will only get stronger. So my approach is to learn how to work with it to prepare for the future.
But that doesn’t mean everyone has to take that course. Just because the world takes a step to the right doesn’t mean you have to follow it. Sometimes, technology changes in such a way that it fundamentally changes what we love. And, while we can change with technology, doing so removes the thing about the process that we love in the first place. So sure, we can change. However, at a certain point, one has to ask oneself exactly why we are shifting in the first place. If doing so takes you further away from what you’re trying to achieve, is it worth making the switch just because others in the market have already done so? I cannot answer that question for you. It is not a universal response. It is specific to each of us on an individual level. But knowing which train will board and which train will pass you is key to longevity as an artist. And so as not to get lost in Brooklyn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzY7qQFij_MORE
Know yourself first
Knowing the enemy knows me, a hundred battles, a hundred wins, is not afraid. If you know yourself but don’t know the enemy, you will lose if you win. If you don’t know your enemy as well as yourself, you will lose every battle. – Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
The world is simply full of opportunity. If you have the talent, which I know you have, there are a lot of possibilities which path you could take. And there’s a good chance you’ll be good at many different things if you choose to pursue them. So how do you know which path to follow?
There is no other way to get over the fact that you absolutely must take the time to get to know yourself before you begin your journey. The answers to some of the questions and predicaments that I have posed so far in this essay can only be formed when you add the main ingredient. Friend.
And just as technology changes, you too will change over time. Remember to stay in touch with yourself and continue to serve your own pleasure is essential. What you dreamed of at the start of your career may not be the same thing that wakes you up in the morning. At the same time, there may be basic red lines drawn when you were in elementary school that decades later, you still don’t want to cross.
I could continue here to tell you about my ongoing journey of self-discovery. But the journey you really need to know is your own. So I’ll summarize this section simply into six words.
To go by yourself is right.
