Nobody Cares About Your Photography

Nobody cares about your photography. That sounds harsh, but it’s true. But I’m not picking on you, my friend. Nobody cares about my photography, either. And nobody cares about that other person's photography.

That doesn’t mean no one likes our photographs, or that we make bad photographs, or that we are just terrible at this wonderful art form that we have chosen and love. It’s just a testament to the world we live in. Everybody mostly cares about their own stuff - their own life, their own schedules, their own photography - and that’s ok. In fact, it may be a blessing.

Let me explain.

In my early photo days, I spent time worrying about whether people would like my photos, or my mad ramblings here on the blog, or my Youtube videos, or whatever. So there were times when I didn’t make and/or share a photo, or a blog post, or a video because I didn’t think people would like it, or I was concerned about how it would be received. Basically, I was afraid. So I trashed it. Yes, I have made complete videos and then trashed them. (If you’ve never made one, just know it takes quite a while to do everything required…like at least a couple of hours, minimum.)

Now I create what I want, when I want, and share it. What changed? My attitude and my approach.

I had a realization that in the grand scheme of life, my art is no big deal to anybody except me. It’s the brutal truth. It’s not really even a blip on most people’s radar. No one is really paying attention to me, or waiting for my next video or photo to appear. They will get on with their day whether I post something or not. Sure, I may get a like or a heart as they scroll - and sometimes a comment or share - but that’s mostly about it. Nobody is paying close attention to me (or you), and that is great news!

Why?

Well, if we spend time worrying about the public reception of our work, we will get paralyzed, creatively speaking, for fear of “not making something awesome”, or being embarrassed about some creative thing we did, or however you want to define it. We may worry that people will judge us and our work. That they will dislike our photos, or think we are terrible photographers, or worse, incompetent photographers.

Knowing that most people are not actually paying attention, we can just focus on the creative process and make things that make us happy. This feels like the point of art in the first place. This is a much better approach I think, because if we don’t put pressure on ourselves, we can more freely create and discover and grow. And we are more likely to make awesome things if we feel free to make them as we see fit without feeling like it’s going to be judged.

So take advantage of the fact that no one is paying attention, and go do your thing. Make something, learn something, share something. Have fun doing it and don’t worry what anyone thinks, because they are most likely thinking of something else (themselves).

Bottom line - make yourself happy with your art. I think that’s the point of art anyway.