How many of you out there love social media for the amazing photos that people share? Facebook allows us to upload photo albums of our latest vacations. Instagram gives us a great avenue for those foodie photos of an amazing cup of coffee or to-die-for dessert.
It’s also now easier to fall into the compare trap. How many times have you thought, “how do they do that?!” The self-doubt creeps in. The self-criticism works it’s evil ways on your confidence. You take 30 photos of the same delicious dinner and share none of them. Ugh!
Let me tell you something, the worst is when YOU stop posting because you feel your photos aren’t going to garner the same reaction. Truth. We all let other people get inside our heads. We all let the beauty of that “perfect” picture keep us from showing reality. We all suffer from a bit of vanity. And jealousy.
How do we fix this?
- You could be like some people and exit social media. Take a short break or a long break.
- You could realize that some people posting have a professional photographer taking their photos. Look for it. It’s not always there, but most of them will add a 📷 emoji followed by a name or another form of photo acknowledgement or tag.
- You could figure out that they are professional photographers themselves with an degree and loads of camera and photo gear. They have mastered photo editing software. They do this for a living, while you don’t.
All of that doesn’t discount their passion, their talent and the hours they spend creating the perfectly curated content they post. I know many of them who take amazing photos, taking hours to catch those shots, and then spend hours editing in post. They deserve the acknowledgment, accolades and big bucks.
You just need to remember all of this when you sit down, scroll through social media and then start the inner compare game.
Just FYI, they don’t always credit the photographer. Sometimes you can get so excited to share you forget to give credit where credit is due. It’s not malicious or ill-intentioned. Most of the time you are so focused on what you want to say, adding tags and hashtags, you simply forget. If you remember later, be nice and tag them, even if its just in the comments.
Who Inspires You?
You can also be like me and ask questions of the people whose photos inspire you. How did they get that shot? What did they use, a camera or a phone? What photo editing software or app do they use? Be forewarned, some people will share and some people won’t. That’s why sometimes you need to take the next step. Take a class and then practice, practice, practice.
Take a Class!
I’m am self-described photo enthusiast. Once our sons were born I grew to love my camera and then my iPhone. I love the portability of always being able to grab a photo with my iPhone, but lately even that has been lacking. So I’m grabbing my camera more and going back to basics.
Last week I had the most amazing adventure to the CreativeLive studios here in Seattle where I was in the audience of a live taping of a photography class. I learned stuff I never knew in John Greengo‘s, “The Photographers Starter Kit for Beginners.” Don’t let the title fool you. This was a great refresher class too if it’s been a while.
CreativeLive is a fantastic company with studios here in Seattle and in San Francisco where they create amazing class content which is available on their website or their app.
Never heard of them? No worries, I hadn’t until a fellow blogger let me know about an event held in the studio here. I attended the event, was excited to meet so many “creatives” and I have been hooked ever since.
How does it work? CreativeLive classes are broken down into multiple segments which are full of information. Don’t have a ton of time? Watch a class segment by segment or start with the one that interests you the most and then go forward or backward. It’s all up to you!
CreativeLive makes learning easy and accessible to us all, even those of us with a very limited budget.
Their class “Channels” are:
- Photo & Video
- Craft & Maker
- Art & Design
- Money & Life
- Music & Audio
See! They have something for the creative in all of us. Too overwhelmed my the sheer number of classes available? No worries, they also have Learning Paths, where they have grouped classes together to make them easier to find like, “Become an Outdoor Photographer.”
Ok, I know. You are thinking, what’s the catch? What’s the bottomline? Here is the skinny on the cost options:
- Buy a class and have access 24-7 365. Classes range in length and cost. Fundamentals of Photography with John Greengo is a week long class for $199 which includes the entire class and it’s accompanying materials in pdf form. The class is broken into 107 segments. This is one of their longer classes, but you will find a range of prices depending on class length.
- Watch for Specials. Buying a class too steep for you? No worries, sign-up for the CreativeLive emails and learn about specials they are having. Right now on the App, there are several classes listed under their, App Specials Under $10, like “How to Capture Landscapes With Your iPhone.” Again, you buy the class and it gets added to your My Library.
- On-Air & Live. Each and every day, CreativeLive will have a class(s) that is On-Air. It’s running for the entire day, but you can’t go back or fast forward. This is great for those quiet snowy or rainy days or when you can take some me time for learning. There are also Live classes. How fun is that? You can watch while they are filming one of their classes Live. You get to send in questions through the chat as if you are in the audience.
- Be in the Audience. Do you live in the Seattle or San Francisco area? Check out the In the Audience on the bottom of the website and watch for classes you can attend for free. Apply. You never know, you could get to go like me! If you attend, you’ll have an amazing time. Meet some creative hopefuls like yourself, get fed, get to ask questions, all while learning amazing things. Oh, then you will get the class and it’s content in your library for your own future use. They even have had the occasional location specific class as well. Check it out!
- Watch for FREE. Like many of us, we simply don’t have the time or money to buy a whole class or attend one in-person. No worries, CreativeLive allows you to take a class a day for FREE! Wait, yes there is a catch. It’s a class segment a day. Now, don’t get all bummed out. It is still worth adding the app to your phone and bookmarking the website. This is what I do most of the time. I’ll see a class I like, tag it so it goes into My Saved Classes by hitting the cute star icon at the top of my screen. Then I’ll simply watch a segment a day (or every few days depending on life obligations) or watch the segments that I need the most first.
There you go! You are on your way to becoming more. More of who you want to be. More creative. Head on over to CreativeLive, follow them on Instagram or Facebook, you won’t regret it!
As with everything, my opinion is my own. No #ad or #sponsored. Just me on my journey, finding what works and sharing it with you. They aren’t paying me for my opinion and sharing this so you just get me and my honesty.
I’m grabbing my camera and heading out! See you peeps!
