Ian Furniss Photography » Blog Archive » Do You Believe? Can You Compete?

Do You Believe? Can You Compete?

Self-confidence, it’s a funny thing. Take Morrissey for instance. In The Smiths ‘How Soon Is Now’ he sang “I am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar”. Hardly the most forceful and positive image to generate and yet could The Smiths and Morrissey in particular have achieved their level of fame without a great deal of belief in what they were doing? Probably not.

A little over a week ago I wrote a post in which I declared that I have no desire to be the next Steven Spielberg, just because Canon decided to stick video on the 5dMkII and today I read on Cinema5d.com that the final episode of the Fox Series “House” will be shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, so obviously someones does.

I mention these two things, a little disjointedly, because i’ve often heard photographers (including myself) worry about whether things like iStock & the advent of all these new technologies will destroy our profession by bringing a sudden great influx of amateurs who haven’t paid their dues to join the supposedly ‘elite club’. Maybe it’s the circles I move within, the people I know, the perspectives we have, but I haven’t yet heard too many photographers worrying about the fact that photographers could be about to destroy the film industry. So far i’ve only heard positives about how we’ll be able to do so much. Nobody has yet cast photographers as the the great Satan of the film industry in the same way that we photographers seem to have cast (so-called) amateurs.

So where does it come from, this different perspective? I guess a lot of it is down to our belief or intent and since like me, many photographers don’t want to be the next Steven Spielberg they don’t see themselves as a threat to the film or TV industry. The reality though, is that we are, or at the very least if we use these tools then we should be, a threat. It’s ok to be shy and insular, as many creatives are, but when you stand up you need to be counted. Many local bands will feel you’re being unfair if you compare their product to The Smiths, U2, Genesis, or whoever. Equally many photographers will consider it unfair to compare their efforts to the likes of Chase Jarvis, Steve McCurry or any of the other greats that are out there. Now whilst there will only ever be and only ever should be one of each of these guys, the reality check here is that if you’re going to play in their backyard, you need to be able to compete directly.

If you don’t think you can (or at some point in the very near future will be able to) compete with the big boys/girls, then you need to find out the reason why. It’s not arrogance, it’s a simple fact of life and business. If you believe in yourself and your product then as a photographer, new technology and cheap stock is no more a threat to you than you are to film-makers. If you believe in yourself but don’t see yourself as a threat to the photographers you look up to, you need to discover why you aren’t a threat and put that right. I’m not saying of course that your intent should be to go off and steal everyone elses business, but I do think there is a positive benefit to logically sitting down and working out where you tell yourself you are in the pecking order, and where you actually believe or act like you are.

Can you compete? No. Then you need to up your game. Can you compete? Yes. Then stop worrying about what’s behind you and build your future.