“Don’t be concerned with other people’s impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone will strengthen your will and give your life coherence”
– Epictetus
This is one of the most important aspects when it comes to being a creator. Of course, if the lighting is right and you’re in a beautiful landscape…you’ll be inspired. That could be true but shooting outdoors comes at a cost. Daytime is easy as there’s not much to worry about. Shoot at ISO 100 or lock on an ND filter and you’re good to go. The patience it takes to wait for the sun to rise as your hands are numb is a different story. The changing of weather can be tough on your hands but what can be more tough than that? In my opinion, it’d be the cost of content. I’m going to break this down a bit as I’ve taught myself how to grow on certain social media platforms. I’m not here to let you know how to gain 1000 followers in a month because that’s idiocy. I just want to highlight what nobody ever talks about for trying to make something worthwhile.
Investment
Taking time to create a short piece of content is incredibly easy. Actually taking time to notice what you’re doing isn’t. Whether you like it or not, if you want to get better at creating, you just have to create more. I’m guilty of this when it comes to writing on my blog at times. This is the first investment for a creator, is their time to make such endeavors the slightest bit possible. After creating any content, you should see it as a moment of an actual “investment” as it’s going to be a partial portfolio and community pages could repost it. These are the two top things to consider for yourself if you want to create anything and you’ll be in your head quite often too.
Detaching Ego
If I learned anything through creation is that whether or not your content is controversial, you might receive negativity. This is certainly a moment to show who you are and train your ego. If you decide to get into a heated debate with a random person, I feel very unfortunate for you. Down the road, this judgement becomes continuous and you have to master your emotions. If you want to reach a larger audience, you must be willing to invoke emotion in order for it to spread. Creating controversy is a good start by having your own thoughts on overrated things. Especially something such as Niagara Falls. You have to be your authentic self and not willing to sell your soul for a collective whole. People are remembered for their authenticity instead of being what people want to see them become.
To everyone:
Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this post and I hope you found value in it. You shouldn’t hope to create waves in the world if you’re worried about judgement. Outside of climbing a mountain, it might be one of the best journey’s you’ll go on. Until next time, go find that mountain and tell your story to the world.
-Alex
T & H 