Closing The_Gap

The title of this podcast was inspired by Ira Glass, the public radio personality and the host and producer of the show This American Life.

On the topic of the struggles all creatives face, Glass once said the following:

Nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish somebody had told this to me — is that all of us who do creative work … we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap, that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good, OK? It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste — the thing that got you into the game — your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you.

This disappointment is something that we have experienced and we sometimes still experience because, let’s face it, nobody ever feels completely realized in their creative life.

So we created this podcast to help all those fledgling creatives that perceive the existence of the gap, but have no idea how to close it. All those who lack inspiration, think they have no talent, are holding back, or never seem to be able to start something or to finish it.

We love listening to photography podcasts, but we felt like most podcasts out there talked a lot about gear and technique and very little about topics like:

• What it means to have talent, or a lack of it,
• Finding and developing a personal style,
• Daring to produce something out of the ordinary,
• Evoking emotions and connecting to people through photographs,
• Dealing with criticism,
• Achieving recognition and commercial success.

We created this podcast to fill this void and answer those questions. We hope you will follow us along this journey.

Click here to find more about us.

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Just a short announcement to let everyone know that this is the last episode of my photography podcast in its current form.

Starting January 2nd, 2019, this podcast will transform into the Closing The_Gap Podcast, a new show that I will be doing with my friend Fabrizia Costa.

We plan to publish weekly episodes on Wednesdays and we will be covering much the same topics I've been talking about here: how to live a fulfilled life as an artist and how to be successful with photography.

If you are subscribed to this show on Apple Podcasts or one of the other services, like Stitcher, there is nothing you have to do, as you will automatically be subscribed to the new show.

You can also keep up with the show and send us your questions and comments at closingthegap.live. See you there!

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In the past, through articles and emails and speeches, most notably in the recent talk I gave at the Out Of Chicago Photography Conference, whose recording you can find here, I mentioned the Helsinki Bus Station Theory, first introduced by Finnish photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen.

The theory is a metaphor of the life of an artist and of a photographer in particular. The moral of the story is that, if you find something that inspires you and if you want to pursue a specific genre of photography, you should stick to it. You should not jump off the bus, metaphorically speaking, and pursue different avenues just because people tell you that what you've been doing has already been done by others.

To quote Minkkinen:

"Stay on the bus. Stay on the f**king bus. Because if you do, in time, you will begin to see a difference.[..] Suddenly your work starts to get noticed. Now you are working more on your own, making more of the difference between your work and what influenced it. Your vision takes off."

I use this quote in the emails I send to my subscribers (click here if you want to get them too) and a few days ago I received a reply from one of my readers, Bob, who wrote:

"I loved the "Helsinki" article. Is it possible to ride on more than one bus at a time, or more accurately, one big bus and a few minivans? In the 70's, the Sierra Club published reduced format paperback versions of their magnificent color monographs. I was of course overwhelmed by the Ansel Adams photos, but was moved and inspired by the work of Elliot Porter. While I love travel and travel photography, my greatest love and greatest frustration is photographing the "intimate landscape" in the footsteps of Porter. I recently found his two large-format books at a used book store and instinctively bought them. My big bus is "intimate landscapes", and my minivans are travel and street photography."

So here's my reply to Bob.

Yes, you can ride more than one bus at a time. It is OK to pursue different interests and practice different genres at the same time. Artists are supposed to be curious, multifarious and omnivorous.

Look at Picasso. He went through several phases or periods in his artistic development. First he had a “blue period”, then a “rose period”, followed by an “African” period, then he invented cubism, rediscovered classicism, and dabbled with surrealism.

The question you have to ask yourself is not whether it is OK to pursue multiple genres at a time. The question is: What do I want to be known for?

You can certainly do intimate landscapes, travel, and street photography all at the same time, but what image of yourself do you want to project to the outside world? Is it that of the intimate landscape photographer or that of the street and travel photographer?

Another thing to keep in mind is that people are going to put you in a box, whether you like it or not. You can, however, control what box they will put you in.

When Picasso started doing cubism, he consciously chose to do cubist paintings and put himself into that box, for a few years. Nobody could have put him inside the impressionist box. He also did classical paintings at the same time, but cubism was what he was known for and what made Picasso the greatest artist of the 20th century.

If somebody, like Picasso, is known for multiple things, it’s because they focused on one of those things at a time, and on other things at different times in their lives.

If you want to become known in multiple fields or genres, focus on one for a number of years. Stay on that bus. Become known for that one thing and get a following in that field before you try to become known for something else.

I would very much like to know your opinion about this, my dear reader. It’s OK if you disagree, and I will appreciate any kind of feedback you can give via the comments section here.

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It's a great pleasure to have back on the show my good friend Fabrizia Costa, whom I had previously interviewed in episode 2, where we talked about the importance of talent.

This time, we had a conversation about superpowers and how to achieve them.

If you wonder what superpowers have to do with photography, listen to the episode to find out or check out http://www.fabriziacosta.com/superpowers.html.

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I was inspired to record this post by reading a post on Facebook by a friend of mine, who recently wrote:

“I belong to a LOT of photography groups here on FB. I thought they would help me to become better at my art. Really all they’ve done is make me want to quit. If you haven’t noticed I haven’t been posting a lot(well, except from the gym because that’s been fun). I’ll still be taking photos and doing shoots but I’m no longer going to pursue this as my sole profession. I gave it a good try.”

This is what I replied to her, slightly edited:

“It’s sad that you are quitting, but understandable. This profession is not easy for anyone. I haven’t given up on my day job yet precisely because of this.

However, if I may respectfully add my own two cents, maybe you made a mistake in thinking that Facebook groups (and Facebook in general) could give you recognition, inspiration, peer encouragement, customers, or anything you were hoping of getting out of them.

If you are very very selective and proactive and careful, then maybe you can find a group of peers that can give you guidance and support, but random groups that everyone can join? Forget about it.

Also finding customers on Facebook is next to impossible. If you want to reach potential customers, you got to find them somewhere else, unless you have very deep pockets, spend a lot of money on ads and have an extremely optimized sales funnel to send people to.

I mostly use Facebook to share the things I put on my various websites. I know Facebook shares won’t attract much traffic, but they don’t cost me anything, so I just do them and if I get a handful of visitors, I won’t complain.

I hope you will still be doing photography professionally, even on a part-time basis, because your work is great.

If you can pursue that on weekends and grow your business from a small group of clients that are willing to refer you, that would be the way to go, in my humble opinion.

I am sure there are gazillions of customers that would want to pay you to have their portrait taken. You just have to reach out to them, via word of mouth, local advertising, partnerships with local businesses, creating great content for your website, and all the things that will make people know, like, and trust you.

In short, everything BUT social media.

I know you can make it.”

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The other day I saw a photographer post the following rant online (paraphrasing):

For a single shoot, professional photographers spend on average:

• 1+ hours talking with customers and preparing a session,
• 1 to 3 hours for the session,
• 10 to 30 minutes on post-processing and retouching each photo,
• 5 or more hours on travel, printing, binding, and delivery

They will spend thousands of dollars on equipment, maintenance, and software; countless hours studying how to create beautiful images.

They have no paid vacations, sick leave, bonuses, benefits, or company provided insurance.

50% of what they make, they pay in taxes.

They love photography, but love doesn’t pay bills.

RESPECT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER!

This seems to have been written from the perspective of an event photographer, but it applies across the board. I’ve even seen landscape photographers point out how much it costs for them to travel to a remote location and to buy a lens or a tripod.

I’ve also seen similar sentiments expressed by other artists, not only by photographers. Regardless of who is expressing it, I cannot help banging my head against the wall (figuratively) every time I read something like that and occasionally expressing my disagreement.

I’ve done this often enough that I think it is more efficient, at this point, to write down my thoughts once and for all. Next time, instead of repeating all of this as a comment on a social media post or blog, I can just share a link to this article. If you agree with me, feel free to share this post too.

Because I think this is a symptom of desperation and of the inability to understand one’s own market. What the people who write these kinds of things don’t understand is that, to customers, the only thing that matters is that they look great in the photos, that they have great memories, and that they have a great time during the session, or at least they don’t get too bored.

Customers will never justify the price they have to pay with the cost of the photographer’s camera or lens or how much was the electricity needed to keep the lights in the studio on.

Most of them will of course appreciate the fact that a 100-page leather-bound album is more costly than a 50-page softcover album and that they have to pay more for that. Likewise, we all understand why a 5-star hotel has to cost more than a stay in a room rented via AirBnB, but again we don’t really care about the costs: we choose to pay more for a room at the Ritz-Carlton because we think we will have an awesome experience. That’s all.

What I’ve never seen is hotel managers post a bill asking customers to respect them because it costs a lot of money to run a hospitality business.

Generally, people accept to pay a certain amount for a good or for a service if they believe the value they get from it is larger than the value of still having that money in their pockets. The costs of producing such goods or services are almost never considered and rightly so.

Production costs are not the customers’ problem and trying to move them to compassion by listing them means not understanding how customers think and, what is more damning, not being able to convey the value of what we are selling.

What I saw posted is what happens when service providers are not able to make customers appreciate the value of what they provide, so they resort to talking about costs.

Let me make this very clear: if customers don’t respect a provider’s value, it is not the customers’ fault. It is only due to the service provider’s inability to make customers understand and appreciate the value of their offering.

Why are there photographers who command $10,000 for a shoot and others who have trouble getting paid $1,000, even when the former’s costs are not 10 times as high?

To be honest, their costs will actually be higher: they might use a $2,000 lens instead of a $500 lens, but this is only because they get paid more and their margins are higher. They are not paid more because their costs are higher. They can afford to have higher costs because they are paid more. They are paid more because they can persuade the customers that what they sell has a higher value.

Appeals to compassion won’t earn anyone more respect. If anything, playing this card smells of desperation and nobody likes to buy from someone who is desperate.

Be confident when you state your prices and be ready to justify them with the value you are going to provide. This is the only way to get respect and sales.

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Yesterday on my facebook stream I kept seeing this video shared and it’s a video where photographer Dave Morrow talks about, giving up on social media, essentially quitting and deleting his facebook, twitter and instagram accounts. Quite ironically I discovered that by using my facebook account. So if it hadn’t been for facebook I would never have known about this. But anyway, I’m digressing.

So what’s Dave is saying is that he had a huge following combining all those channels. He had like a million and a half followers there and he was using that following to drive some traffic to his website. But at some point he decided that that was being toxic to him. I mean he was wasting too much time chasing likes and follows and so on, for the sake of it and interacting with people, responding to comments and so on. And he realized he basically had wasted three or four years of his life, chasing those dopamine rushes as he calls them, like that instant gratification that can last for for a few minutes, but then there’s nothing left after that.

So, not being one to do things a little bit at the time and one step at a time, he just decided to cut everything off and to use the time that he had left from that to create more content for his website, longer form content, to do more video blogs and to go hiking in the wilderness, which is his real passion. And of course taking photos while there. And of course his fear was that by completely deleting accounts, he’d lose all those followers, the traffic to his website would suffer, which in fact maybe happened for awhile. But then he figured out that by creating better content, more interesting content, longer blog posts, that he would recover that traffic and in the long run his traffic would actually grow and people would follow him because they were interested in what he had to say on his website and on his youtube videos.

So in the end, he said he’s very happy about that. It’s also interesting that this video was a shared multiple times when we are at the time when there is this huge scandal about the Cambridge Analytica firm that was harvesting data apparently illegally, using facebook user data to maybe help some politician’s campaign and so on. So people are thinking of deleting their facebook accounts for precisely that reason, which again I find reasonable. So am I going to delete my facebook account? Well, for one thing I have never been addicted to facebook or other social media. Yeah, I just spend a lot of time maybe looking at my stream and being annoyed at how useless it is, but I still use it to organize events, to do a little bit of promotion and especially to keep in touch with people that I would have to find another way to keep in touch with.

I mean, it’s so easy to use facebook for that or twitter or instagram or whatever you prefer or even google plus. So I’m not deleting it just yet, but if you want to delete your facebook, instagram, twitter accounts, that by all means do it, especially if you’re concerned about privacy. But there’s one thing which I think is important to underline here, especially if you are using facebook and other social media as I am and as Dave Morrow was, to promote our photography, to promote our photography business, to get clients who would like to buy our images or our video tutorials, ebooks, photo tours.

And the thing is that if you want to drop that, you need to find other ways like Dave is doing by writing more content for his website, not enriching somebody else’s platform but growing his own platform, that’s his website. And I think that’s something that many people might miss, especially if they don’t watch all of the 11 minutes of Dave’s video, is that if you drop facebook, you drop instagram, you drop Twitter and you drop messenger, but all you do with all that time that you have left is binge-watch netflix series, then that’s not going to benefit you in any way. Yeah, I mean, OK, it might not be as toxic as some facebook environments have become nowadays, but you’re still not benefiting your growth, your business and your audience. I’m talking here exclusively from the point of view of somebody who wants to have an audience. I mean, if you’re not interested in having an audience then please disregard what I’m saying. But if you want to have an audience because you are an artist and artists thrive on audiences, then just dropping social media and substituting it with Netflix or TV watching is not going to to do you any good. It’s only going to harm you. So Yep. My personal commitment from today on is to stop paying so much attention to my facebook stream.

I already don’t pay any attention to things like twitter and instagram to be honest, but I still do pay attention to facebook. I’m going to cut that by quite a bit and I’m going to use that time to write more content for my website s or even to record more episodes for this podcast, like this one. This is going to be difficult because things like facebook are such a huge distraction. So I’m going to install, well I actually already installed on my phone and on my chrome browser here, a little app that is called Forest, which is kind of a game. Basically, if you start the forest app on your, on your phone, it’ll take up the screen and you set the timer, like say 25 minutes and you’ll say for 25 minutes: I pledge not to use other applications, not to be distracted by my phone, whatever that is.

And at the end of the 25 minutes, you’ve got a little tree. You can do the same on the browser. You can block certain sites, facebook, Gmail, Instagram, Twitter, the news, whatever, and you can focus on a task and you set the timer. And if you don’t access any of those sites for that time that you set, then you’re going to be rewarded with a tree and then you can grow the forest over time. And you can also play with friends, who gets more trees. in a week or so. You can do contests so it can also be a little bit of fun. So I’m going to start to use it and actually have just started a little Forest timer while I’m recording this. So I will be gratified with a little tree at the end. I don’t know if this is going to work, but at least the I’m willing to try.

So, I think we all need to be more focused. We need to be less dependent on, on social media and instant gratification and recover some time out of that. But it’s important that we think how we want to use that time. We want to create more interesting, more valuable content, a because at the end, it’s the value that we provide to our audience, to our listeners, to our readers that keeps them following us. And in the end, if you’re doing this for commercial reasons because you want to make a living then you need to nurture your leads, your followers. So that in the end they start knowing you, trusting and liking you and in the end, they will become your customers. That’s the whole game after all.

• Dave Morrow: How Quitting Social Media Changed My Life And My Photography
• Forest App

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These days I often catch myself reflecting on ways that we can get better at our work–be it photography or any other creative endeavor–that go beyond the simple advice you can find in online forums and YouTube videos.

Consequently, I am more receptive than ever to learning about the meaning of art, psychology, self-improvement, the life, the universe, and everything!

It is with this disposition that I collect what little nuggets of wisdom I can find online. Occasionally I find some that are so good that I can't help but sharing them, in the hope that they will inspire and help my readers as much as they did to me.

Ira Glass, the host and producer of the radio show This American Life, once said something that touched me deeply. I am reminded of it every time I feel like I'm struggling to get where I want to be.

I hope his words will give you a hint of what you need to do, if you want to grow as an artist.

Nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish somebody had told this to me — is that all of us who do creative work … we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap, that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good, OK? It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste — the thing that got you into the game — your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you, you know what I mean?

A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. And the thing I would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be — they knew it fell short, it didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have.

And the thing I would say to you is everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it, if you’re going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase — you gotta know it’s totally normal.

And the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, or every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. Because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions. It takes a while, it’s gonna take you a while — it’s normal to take a while. And you just have to fight your way through that, okay?

There is something else that I want to mention here. While you are doing the huge amount of work that Ira Glass is suggesting, it's inevitable that your work will be compared to that of others. Then you start feeling like you can't find your own vision, your won style.

What then? How do you find your true and unique vision in photography? Well, I don't want to give you a direct answer to this question. Instead, I am going to point you to an article by Finnish photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen. A few years ago he wrote about the Helsinki Bus Station theory. You might ask what have buses got to do with art, vision, and photography. You will have to listen to the audio or read it all here.

As always, I appreciate your comments and, if you liked this episode, please leave me a review on iTunes. Thank you very much.

If you want to receive new episodes of the podcast directly on your device, subscribe on iTunes here.

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I was recently on an Internet forum where people usually post their own photos. There, somebody had commented on a photo that somebody else had shared and the entirety of their comment was “Truly horrible.” That's what they wrote, literally.

Reading such comments never fails to upset me and, whenever you tell those people that their comments are out of place, they invariably retort that they have a right to their opinions and that if somebody publishes a photo, they willingly expose themselves to critique and even to harsh criticism even if such criticism is not constructive in any way.

It's not the first time I've been discussing this topic online, but now I want to share my own thoughts on my podcast.

I resolved some time ago to never criticize other people's work. I never even critique them, unless I've been explicitly asked to give a critique, like “What do you think of the composition or the colors here?”. Then I might give some advice, but I don't think of that as a critique. I would never criticize anyone, if not solicited.

This episode reminded me of a quote I once read in Steven Pressfield's The War of Art, a great book, so I'm just going to put that quote here, because I think it is very much relevant to what I am discussing.

“If you find yourself criticizing other people, you're probably doing it out of Resistance. When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own. Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. Watch yourself. Of all the manifestations of Resistance, most only harm ourselves. Criticism and cruelty harm others as well.”

– Steven Pressfield, “The War of Art”

I would also like to present another quote, with which I agree wholeheartedly. This one is by Rick Sammon.

“When I hear someone needlessly criticizing the work of others, I think about what my mother used to tell me: If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything.”

– Rick Sammon

This is why I have resolved, as I wrote above, never to criticize anyone's work. If you catch me doing that, please slap me on my wrist, because it's just wrong. I think that criticizing somebody else's work only reflects badly on the person extending the criticism.

I know this can be a contentious subject and that many think that, with their critique or criticism, they are helping others grow. I personally don't believe that's really possible, unless it's done in a very specific and controlled setting, like a portfolio review by a master. Then I would accept it, but it's been requested.

Were you ever criticized, when posting photos online, in a way that made you feel uncomfortable? Share your experience in the comments below.

If you want to receive new episodes of the podcast directly on your device, subscribe on iTunes here.

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Magazine editors want to see a story develop through pictures. I think a little example here will serve well to illustrate the concept. You can also take this as an exercise and do it on the next occasion.

Imagine you are commissioned to shoot photographs to illustrate a story about a restaurant that has recently become popular or has received some prestigious award. Now think, rather literally, about the story of a person going out to dinner in that restaurant.

You could start with a photo of the restaurant’s front from across the street, as if you were approaching it. This is what is called an establishing shot and could be used in a two-page spread to open the article.

Then you get closer and start noticing some details, like the restaurant’s name on the door or the menu posted outside.

Going inside, you get a glimpse of the hall, with people having dinner at their tables. Another establishing shot.

The maître d' approaches you with a smile to greet the guests. You take a photo of him.

During the dinner, you take various photos of the dishes and of the wines.

Afterwards, you ask to see the kitchen and compliment the chef. You take some portraits of him in his kitchen (a series of environmental portraits) and some close-ups of his hands preparing food. A wide shot of the kitchen with the cooks at work would also be nice to have.

Congratulations, what you just did is telling the story of your dinner in pictures!

Here’s a couple more tips to guide you:

• Constantly alternate between going wide to show context and getting close to focus on details.
• Shoot all subjects in portrait and landscape orientation. You never know how the magazine will want to arrange your photos on a page.
• Shoot a lot, but always intentionally, never randomly.
• One or two wide shots are enough, maybe add a few more medium shots, but it's the small details that make all the difference.

With thanks to Valérie Jardin for creative input.

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