Closing The_Gap

This week we pickup where we left with the previous episode. There are so many things to say about the topic of turning pro that we just couldn't fit them all into one episode.On this one, we talk about:Turning pro is a journey of self-discovery.Clients care for the experience more than anything else.How good you need to be start?Why you don't need to justify your prices.Learning how to run a business.Specialists vs. generalists. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In these uncertain times, many people are being furloughed, have lost their jobs, ot are struggling financially. It they have been considering becoming a professional photographer for some time, they might think now is the time to do it.Taking this step, if not done with the right mindset, can be dangerous, however.In this episode of the podcast, the first in a series about turning pro, Fabrizia and Ugo discuss what it takes to become a pro and the mistakes to avoid. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It is said that our brains only remember things in three ways:Through highly emotional connection, like deep joy or deep traumaThrough repetitiveness over a long period of time Through photosWhen one of these ways isn’t available, the memory will fade and eventually get archived, deleted from consciousness. We only remember our lives through one of these “anchors”Unfortunately, when photos are simply digital files, they’re hardly ever looked at, and often end up lost, deleted, or corrupted. Even when we save photos on a cloud service, that’s where they end up: literally on a cloud, far away, forgotten. If we don’t print them, it’s very likely that we won’t see them again.Eyewitness is an opinion campaign, spearheaded by our own Fabrizia Costa, to raise awareness about the importance of printing your photos.Ugo and Fabrizia are back on the podcast to discuss this. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In last episode we discussed why photographers and all creatives, even if they are not writers, should start writing and we listed some of the way that creativity and productivity can benefit from writing.This week we continue the conversation on the topic of writing. We give you some more practical tips on how to develop and maintain a writing habit. We analyze and debunk some of the typical objections, like “I am not a good writer”, “I don’t know what to write about”, and “People will laugh at me.”Mentioned in this episodeSuperpowers by Fabrizia CostaUgo Cei Photography See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

17 – The Importance Of Writing, Part OneIf you want to be a great photographer, you need to learn how to write.We know this is counter-intuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense and we hope that listening to this podcast will convince you that it’s actually true.This week, we talk about the reasons why you should be writing. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, when we will give you some very practical tips on how to start developing a writing habit.The Benefits Of WritingWriting helps you avoid distractions.Writing helps you communicate more effectively.Writing helps you think more clearly.Writing is essential to achieving commercial success.Writing helps you remember.Writing influences your speaking.Writing teaches yourself while you teach others.Writing makes a name for yourself.Writing is storage for your ideas. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After a hiatus of a few weeks, the show is back, but for this week’s episode we have something different from our usual format.A few days ago, our good friend, photographer, educator, and writer Marc Silber informed us that he was about to publish his latest book, titled “Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life”.We thought that the topic of the book–creativity and the tools and processes that help creative people produce their best work–would be perfectly appropriate for out podcast. So we asked Marc to be our special guest and talk about what it takes to be truly creative. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on the podcast we talk about jealousy and why being envious of the success of others is yet another manifestation of the Resistance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today’s over-competitive world, the word mediocrity has taken on a decidedly negative connotation. When we say something is mediocre, we mean it is not good, even worse than average.In reality, on any scale by which we can measure the quality of what we produce, something that is of median quality is, by definition, better than 50% of the rest. Is that such a bad place to be? We don’t think so.There are some photographers whose work we admire greatly. Looking at our bookshelves right now we can see books by Steve McCurry, Sebastião Salgado, Nick Brandt, Art Wolfe, and others. If we put our work besides theirs, we can’t help feeling that ours is so much inferior that the only word to define it is mediocre, in comparison.Our first advice to those who feel the same is the following: if you want to overcome your mediocrity, do more work. Study the work of the masters and practice deliberately. If it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient at anything, as Malcolm Gladwell says, then start rolling up your sleeves.There are no shortcuts, but we can guarantee you that you will become better, if you don’t give up.“I know that to paint the sea really well, you need to look at it every hour of every day in the same place, so that you can understand its way.”Claude MonetIn the end, however, you will never be completely satisfied with whatever goal you have achieved, because dissatisfaction is part of human nature and is what drives us to reach even loftier goals.Another piece of advice that we feel we should share is this:Stop comparing your work to that of others.Most of all, never ever compare your work to what you see posted online by those who rake in thousands of likes for each photo they post on Facebook or 500px. That is just a popularity contest and the factors that determine popularity have little or nothing to do with quality.If you do and if you make your satisfaction depend on popularity, we can assure you that you will never be satisfied.“I’ve been woken from enlightened man’s dream / Checkin’ Instagram comments to crowdsource my self esteem.”Kanye WestAppreciate what you have, do not compare yourself to others and every achievement will be more meaningful. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The topic of today's episode was inspired by an article on artsy.net that presents the results of a research on the relation between the degree of success that many famous artists enjoyed and the number of their connections.The conclusion of the research is that "for successful artists, making friends may be more important than producing novel art."We discuss the importance of making connections in today's world, be it in person and virtually, on social networks. It turns out that there are some behaviors that would be considered normal, if not absolutely expected, in real life, that most people forget in the virtual world.We also give some tips for making the most of online connections, without looking like a complete dork.What do you think about this? Let us know what you think by leaving a message using the button below. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Unsolicited critiques are the bane of online photography forums. In this episode of the podcast we argue that you should ignore the criticism you receive online, unless it’s coming from someone you admire and respect and who you know has your best interests at heart.Most critics have a tendency to put others down for purely selfish reasons and they should be ignored at best.It also follows that you should refrain from criticizing the work of others, because it’s highly unlikely that you’re not doing it for purely selfless reasons.As Steven Pressfield writes, criticism is a manifestation of the Resistance but, unlike other manifestations, it hurts others, not just ourselves. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A day doesn’t go by in online photography circles without some professional decrying the fact that amateurs are driving prices down, ruining the market, and basically killing photography and everything that’s good and fair.We don’t think professionals should worry about what the amateurs are doing and we try to explain why we believe so in the latest episode of the podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The importance of pursuing personal projects to revitalize one’s creativity cannot be overstated.Whether photography is your job, a side gig, or just a hobby, it is important to do what you love, or the well of creativity will soon dry up.We discuss this topic in the latest episode of the podcast and give practical tips on how to find personal projects to work on. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For this episode of the podcast, we give voice to one of our listeners and a great friend of us, Pia Parolin.Pia used the button we put under every episode to record her question for us, which can be summarized as “Now that I have become proficient with my photography and started showing my work, what next steps should I take to be more successful and appreciated?”We believe that Pia is already doing great with her photography and taking all the right steps towards closing the gap, but we tried to answer her question anyway, with an eye towards those who are struggling a bit more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this week's episode of the podcast, we continue the discussion we had last week about reclaiming your time to pursue your passion and artistic endeavours.Time is a fixed quantity and you can't really manage it. You can only manage the work you have to do, by assessing priorities, blocking time slots, using systems, and more.This episode is chock-full of practical tips about this topic that so many struggle so much with, so you sure don't want to miss it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We all like to say we're busy and overwhelmed with too many things to do. Managing your time can be really tough, but it becomes easier when you realize that you can't really manage time: all you can do is just managing the work you have to do.One way to do this is to learn to say no to the constant barrage of demands that work, society, friends, and even ourselves put on us.We discuss this topic in the latest episode of the podcast. This is the first of two episodes about time management. In the next one, we will give you some practical tips that we use to organize our days. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you’re not making a lot of bad photos, you’re not trying hard enough. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of the podcast, we go deeper into the conversation about deliberate practice and try to answer the question:Where does one find the motivation and the inspiration to continue practicing, every single day?We argue that we cannot expect that those two elusive things will somehow float down the river, when we are laying on the grass, watching the clouds in the sky.Motivation and inspiration don’t materialize out of thin air, but must be nurtured. Finding the resolve to practice every day takes courage and determination. Rituals, routines, and habits can help us dig motivation up from the ground.Fine some inspirational quotes about motivation, inspiration, and routines below the fold.“I only write when I’m motivated to. I just happened to be motivated every day at 8am.” – Todd Henry“It doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at, if you only do the work when you’re motivated, then you’ll never be consistent enough to become a professional. […] We all have goals that we would like to achieve and dreams that we would like to fulfill, but it doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at, if you only do the work when it’s convenient or exciting, then you’ll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.” – James Clear“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will — through work — bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea.’ And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every day. Today, you know what you’ll do, you could be doing what you were doing yesterday, and tomorrow you are gonna do what you did today, and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere.” – Chuck Close“I begin each day of my life with a ritual. I wake up at 5:30 AM, put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st Street and First Avenue where I work out for two hours. The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym. The ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go, I have completed the ritual.” – Twyla Tharp“Mind the gap” audio sample courtesy of bbc.co.uk – © 2018 BBC. Click here to download the original file. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Does it really take 10,000 hours of practice to get really good at something?Where do you find the motivation to keep practicing?Are all kinds of practice equally good and what does it mean to practice deliberately?We ask ourselves these questions in the latest episode of the podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sometimes people believe they are not ready to take the next step towards closing the gap because they lack knowledge. Is that a legitimate concern?We take our inspiration from the following quote by James Clear and discuss the relationship between knowledge and practice:“It can be easy to assume that the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in the future is caused by a lack of knowledge. This is why we buy courses on how to start a business or how to lose weight fast or how to learn a new language in three months. We assume that if we knew about a better strategy, then we would get better results. We believe that a new result requires new knowledge. What I’m starting to realize, however, is that new knowledge does not necessarily drive new results. In fact, learning something new can actually be a waste of time if your goal is to make progress and not simply gain additional knowledge. It all comes down to the difference between learning and practicing.”Stop Thinking and Start Doing: The Power of Practicing More – James ClearClosing the Gap, the MasterclassClosing the Gap, a Photography Retreat“Mind the gap” audio sample courtesy of bbc.co.uk – © 2018 BBC. Click here to download the original file. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you really need innate talent and special genes to be an artist or successful in any field?We discuss this topic in the latest episode of the podcast.Despite what many people think, the science is pretty clear on this: "the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain."We also believe that, most of the time, it's not a lack of knowledge that stops people from closing the gap.So, what's really needed to close the gap? As Ira Glass says, it's doing a lot of work. But doing a lot of mindless work might only serve to reinforce errors and bad habits.We will delve deeper into what it means to practice in the right way in the next episodes. Stay tuned! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 deliveryThey 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.Why do I disagree with the above rant?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.It’s all about the valueGenerally, 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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.LinksDave Morrow: How Quitting Social Media Changed My Life And My PhotographyForest App See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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.The post The Gap appeared first on Ugo Cei Photography. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 SammonThis 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.The post Never Criticize Other People's Work appeared first on Ugo Cei Photography. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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.Subscribe on iTunes.The post Think Like a Magazine Editor appeared first on Ugo Cei Photography. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Subscribe on iTunes.The subject of today's podcast is a little pet-peeve of mine, the myth of talent, something about which I already ranted in the past. This topic was brought to my mind again by reading a blog post by my friend Fabrizia Costa.Fabrizia mentions that someone left her a comment saying basically that talent is necessary to get anywhere in photography and her reply is as follows:“This is the view held by many photographers, and to some extent it's true but I believe that talent is overrated. Yes, you do need something special to be exceptional, there’s no doubt about that, but you don’t need that to be a success in this world.We all have some talent, every single one of us, and the issue here is that many have not yet found out what their talent is and how to use it. In reality, hidden talent will emerge when we get down to work, take action, commit, learn, train, and put hours into it.They say that if you do something for 10,000 hours you become an expert. And that’s probably true, in terms of learning a skill and gaining specific knowledge about something, but that’s only about 50% of what we need to succeed in our business. The other 50% is what goes on in your head, what you believe you can and cannot do, and being open to receive. We’re so bad at receiving, we self-sabotage a lot. Negative talk in our heads will undermine all the work we do, but if we do the work and keep those voices down, there’s really no limit to what we can achieve.We all know wonderful talented people who are struggling to make ends meet, or who can’t make a living out of their art and have to work a 9-5 job to survive. So is talent the defining factor? It’s quite clearly not the case!Success is not just for the talented, it’s for everyone who’s willing to step further and put themselves out there and dare to be great. Your talent will emerge, grow and shine as you do the work, but your ability to generate wealth, or whatever your idea of success may be, lies much deeper than what you’re good at doing.Whether you feel you’re talented or not, be aware it’s not the deciding factor in a successful business and life. Some even use that as an excuse to hold back! For years I didn’t even try to do things that I wanted to do because I kept saying I’m not good at them. And while I may still not be very good at them now (you don’t want to hear me sing), if I invested time and I trained with a teacher I would definitely become better… and eventually maybe even good!”So, as this is an issue about which I am passionate, I picked up the phone to call Fabrizia and ask her a few more questions about it. You can listen to the recording of our conversation above, or read the transcript below. If you do, I would love to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment here, no matter if you agree with us or if you think we are completely nuts!Ugo: The other day you wrote a beautiful post on your Facebook group “Outside the Box”, titled “Talent is overrated”. Your words immediately resonated with me. A few years ago I wrote a post on my blog titled “The Myth of Talent” and I swear you could have written mine and I could have written yours. What prompted you to write that post?Fabrizia: Well the day before it was actually the day of the ladies' final at Wimbledon so I wrote a post about crucial moments. Really it was about a tennis match: sometimes there is a ball that is a really important ball and it's worth a lot more than just that point. Because from that point on, if you get it, you could win; if you lose it, you could fall apart. That's exactly what happened to Serena Williams: she lost two balls and that was the end of the match. She lost the match, after that she fell apart. But this happens so much in tennis. And it made me think that in business we also have a lot of opportunities where we can take a risk or we don't take the risk and if we take risks we have a chance of winning big things. And some people just don't do it and we lose some crucial moments that can take us ahead.And then there was a comment on that, somebody saying: “Yeah that's all good and well but you need talent to go further in photography.” And so that made me think that's the way a lot of people think. But to me talent is overrated. And so that's why I wrote the post because, like you said in your own post, it's a myth that you need talent to get anywhere in in photography and in business. There was then a comment on this post saying: “To be out of this world, you need a lot of talent.” Yes. But we're not talking about being Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.We're talking about running a successful business. You don't have to be exceptional to do that. You can do the work and get where you need to be and be very successful. There's a ton of people that make a lot of money have great successful businesses and you don't know who they are. They're not famous but they do it right. So that's why I post that. It's a bit of a long story.U: It's really true. I completely agree. But every time I mention this topic, I am amazed at the amount of negative reactions I get. It compares to backlash I get when I say the Golden Section is a myth. It looks like people are really fond of the notion that you have to have innate talent to succeed, even though they cannot justify in any other way than by saying it is self-evident. Why do you think it’s so?F: Absolutely. And this opens up a whole big can of worms because it's an easy way to justify your lack of success. So it's very easy to say “I don't have enough talent and therefore I cannot be successful” or “it's not working for me because I don't have much talent as a photographer. I'm not good enough.” That's what it means: “I'm not good enough.” And that goes back into the whole issue of self value which is a huge thing and it's at the bottom of all this argument, because that is everybody's problem. Lack of self value and what we believe we cannot do because we're not good enough. It will affect our communication, our connection with clients, our prices that we set, the products that we offer, the way we run our business, the way we do not really believe that we can do it and therefore we're not going to do it right.So the value that we place on our work and the value that we place on ourselves is really the core issue. I think it goes down to that. The superficial comment is: “Oh, you need talent.”. In fact the the self-value and all that kind of stuff is really big in the work that nobody wants to do because you need to get down there and you really need to think and you really need to work on yourself and realize the value that you got and bring it out. And that is a different kind of a work and I end up doing this with pretty much every single one of the people that I coach because we always go and we always get to a point when this thing comes out.So it's easy to blame it on the lack of talent. In reality it is people not really wanting to deal with their issues and self-worth. And I think that's what's come up.U: I love that we basically reached the same conclusions, but maybe coming from different directions, because my conviction that a talent is largely a myth was inspired by my mentor, Robin Griggs Wood. She said she had missed a lot of opportunities in her life because of the blocks that other people put in her way. They didn't think enough of her. They didn't give her opportunities and space and the training to reach her true potential. And the fact that people discount other people because they think they don't have talent makes her sad. She's fighting against that. You seem to come from a different direction, where you see the blocks that people themselves put in front of their own path. So not so much the blocks that others put, but I think that these are equally important, equally heavy to lift if not even more so. It's great that we we see we see the same effect, but coming from different directions.F: I think there are things that people put in our way and it's mainly in our childhood and our self value is built up when we are children and teenagers and those are the crucial years. So if we've had parents or teachers or figures of authority in our lives that have put us down, we don't think much or value us, then that's certainly something that people put in our way, that blocks. Somebody keeps telling you: “You can't sing, you can't sing. You know you're out of tune.” A child will not be listening to music and will not be trying to sing and will not be learning to sing and will be out of tune. It's just the way it works. If somebody is encouraged to do something, even if they're mediocre they will become better.And that's just the way it works. So there are things that people put in our way, especially when we're younger, but I think in the end those are the voices in our heads that, even when our parents are gone and all those people are gone, we keep listening to. We replay these and these are all our choice. It's our own subconscious that keeps telling us the same stuff 10, 20, 30 years later and it's not the truth. So in a way we are putting that stuff in our way and we use these things as an excuse because to overcome that we need to face it, to face the fact that is not true and that we need to get over ourselves. And it's a whole lot of work and it can be painful and it can be challenging. And so a lot of people don't really want to do it. Instead they complain about the lack of talent and just hide.U: According to you how can people help themselves remove those blocks?F: Well it's facing it and realizing that once you see something, like I say in Outside the Box, once you see something you can't unsee it. Some people get a therapist, some people get a coach. A lot of people work with me and that's what we do. And some people do self-therapy, journaling and trying to work out what goes on in the head. There's many ways to remove blocks.The first thing you do is identify that you have blocks and realize that you have these things and that you're using some things as excuses not to, because it's down to fear. You fear showing up. That's another thing: you need to show up and it's fearful. Once you're out there, people are gonna judge you and people don't like to be judged. And so it's easier to say I don't have enough talent to show up and just stay in your own little thing and be a victim and never be successful and complain. But it's never your fault, it's because you don't have talent.U: Absolutely. I think we could have a long academic discussion and science papers about the relative weight of nurture versus culture and what is in our genes and so on. Of course, if you're not seven feet tall you can be an NBA center, but aside from those very specific cases, if I can interpret also your your words, what we're pointing out here is that you should not think that you don't have talent and therefore something is precluded to you. That you will never be able to reach certain goals, most reasonable ones at least. I cannot pretend to be Roger Federer. At least I could play decent tennis if in my youth I really wanted to do it. Every time somebody says they have no talent for this or that or that somebody else doesn't have any talent and we don't amount to much, we should always be ready to point out that it's a load of crap.F: I don't like to discount that as a superficial thing, but anybody can succeed in business, because even people that are not incredibly intelligent have succeeded in business and have run good photography businesses for many years. So there's no reason why anyone shouldn't do it. It's just the fact that you have to believe in what you're doing and you need to do it hundred percent and put the time and the effort in. But most of all believe it, as if you don't believe it you're not going to get it.U: You mentioned the coaching that you do. Can you just tell my audience how people can find more about your coaching activities, should they want to benefit from them?F: Yes. I don't I don't teach photography so I keep myself out of that because it's not photographers' teaching. I teach photography to amateurs locally but I don't do workshops of photography that much. But I do coach for business and I coach professional photographers only because it's about business obviously. So I have the group on Facebook called Outside the Box Evolution, one in English one in Italian,so you can go see it and find that. And I run workshops. It's two-day workshops in different cities. The next one is in Vienna in October and I'm just about to launch an online mastermind group just for 10 photographers who work with me for three to six months. And then I do one-to-one coaching, so there's different options and journeys that we could do together. I don't take on many people because I am a photographer and I still work as a photographer and I don't want to give that up because that's what I love. I love to do both things. I'm running two jobs at the same time. I couldn't choose one over the other. Yeah that's what I do.The post Talent is Overrated. A Conversation with Fabrizia Costa appeared first on Ugo Cei Photography. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Subscribe on iTunes.According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a cliché is“A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.”Examples of usage include:‘that old cliché ‘a woman's place is in the home’‘the usual worn-out clichés about the English’We can certainly apply this concept to visual arts as well, including photography. Anyone of us can certainly think of photographs that have been taken so many times that they have become clichés: most photos taken at sunset at Horseshoe Bend in Arizona look exactly like every other one, don't they?This one below is a photo of mine, taken one night in Prague, and it shows the Vitava river with the perspective of bridges crossing it just as the sky was becoming darker and the city lights started to turn on. The so-called blue hour, my favorite time of day for shooting cityscapes.Bridges across the Vitava River at night.It's a well-worn location, as the screenshot below of a Google Images search results page demonstrates. If you want to take the same photo, jump on one of the trams that go to Sparta, get off right in front of the stadium and cross the park, called Letna Park, on the opposite side of the road from the stadium. It's pretty easy. Bring a telephoto lens because you'll be far from the bridges.Sometimes, when I visit places for the first time and I have little time, I make a plan to capture at least a few iconic, postcard-type photos, if you will. In this case I only had two days to spend in Prague, the weather was horrible for the most part, so I tried at least to get a couple safe shots.Now, there's a reason why some images become clichés and that's because they are beautiful. People love looking at them and love buying products that carry reproductions of those images, like for example jigsaw puzzles. The jigsaw puzzle industry might be the biggest consumer of colorful, detailed images of easily recognizable locations in great light, just like mine above.Precisely because of these qualities, and not because of any great artistic merit, my photo has sold well, including to a jigsaw puzzle company that used it for one of their products. The proceedings from sales of this image might one day allow me to take another trip to Prague and other types of images at leisure.A jigsaw puzzle using my photo.Here's another, maybe less obvious example. The photo below is of a natural arch called the Azure Window, on the island of Gozo, in the Maltese archipelago. This was already very well-known as a photo location in the Mediterranean, but became even more popular after it was used as the backdrop for the scene of the wedding of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo in the Game of Thrones series. (Warning: graphical violence at the link).The Azure Window, Gozo, MaltaThis is maybe less of a cliché, thanks to the long exposure and the black-and-white treatment, but still it is not overly original. However, I am happy that I took this photo. I won't be able to take it anymore, since the Azure Window is gone, collapsed into the sea after a winter storm.Maltese newspaperMy point here is that sometimes a cliché photo might be the only lasting memory you have of a place, so why not take it?With this I don't want to suggest that you should only take iconic postcard shots. By all means, work towards developing your own style and finding your own vision, but there is nothing wrong with taking an occasional picture of too common a view and always remember, as director Jim Jarmusch says, that authenticity is invaluable, originality is non-existent.“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”– Jim JarmuschThe post Embracing the Cliché appeared first on Ugo Cei Photography. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to my new photography podcast!I can already hear some of you say:  “Hey, wait a minute, don't you already have a photography podcast?” Well, as a matter of fact I do. It's called The Travelling Image Makers and I co-host that one with my buddy Ralph Velasco. Every week we publish an interview with a travel photographer and we've been doing so for more than 80 weeks. It's a very high production value, very structured podcast and you can count on an episode to be published every week for the foreseeable future. I am definitely not giving up on that, but I wanted something different. I wanted to be able to share something with my followers and my readers whenever I read something in the news, or something that tickles my fancy, or I publish a new article on my website or whenever I think I have something interesting to share. So this is going to be very random and very experimental. I don't plan to spend a lot of time producing and editing and it's going to be recorded in one take and published immediately. I am not going to follow a fixed schedule; you will just be able to find all the episodes at this page and of course also on iTunes, where you will be able to subscribe, if you want to keep listening to what I have to say.Topics covered will include everything that is photography-related with some extensions into travel, which is one of my favourite pastimes. I recently also started developing a keen interest on marketing, especially marketing for creative businesses, like mine, so if you are in my situation,  might be interested in what I have to say about this topic. This is just the pilot episode, so no real news to share here. I will probably recording another episode tomorrow, where I will talk about the latest post I published on my website. Stay tuned, all the fun is just about to start! The post Introducing the Ugo Cei Photography Podcast appeared first on Ugo Cei Photography. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.