You can’t escape being in photos.
Some of us avoid it like the plague, while others of us reluctantly pose for those well-meaning people around us snapping the shots. It’s hard to escape. Every day this selfie happy, social media frenzied culture calls on us. Everyone seems to be checking-in and reviewing something, posting pics from that event last weekend or Instagram-ing your latest meal together: all the while tagging you!
But many of us, who don’t love being in front of the camera, really enjoy being behind it. It gives us the opportunity to observe and record what we see around us without having to interact or explain. We also get to stay out of the limelight.
Good photography is mandatory.
As a creative person, we need them. We need photos for everything from Instagram, to Facebook, to Etsy, to our websites. Yet despite this need for amazing photography all the time, its not practical for most creativepreneurs to hire a professional photographer every time we want to list a new item in our shop or post a new blog entry.
So we start taking more photos of our lives. We snap more shots because we know that it’s a fundamentally important part of promotion. But there is still one thing missing from most of our photos: us. We’ve got pictures of places and things, products, concepts and colleagues. But we could count on one hand how many good pics we have of ourselves that really represent our creative work. Here are 6 reasons why you need to bridge this gap!
Loving your self(ie) matters.
Differentiation- This may seem obvious, but no one else has your face. In this way your likeness is your own personal snowflake-stamp on your creative work. It’s pretty likely that there are others in this world who do what you do (or something similar). By putting your face on it, you remind yourself and the world that no one does it just like you.
It’s free – Aside from the cost of your camera (and for most people this comes included on their cell phone) taking good photos of your life and work is a great free way to share your work. Think about how tough it must have been to market a small business 30 years ago! We are so fortunate to have all these free outlets to send out our message, let’s take advantage!
You’ll get better– Practice makes perfect and taking photos is no exception. Photography is like anything else, if you work on it, over time you will improve. No matter what kind of creative work you do, wouldn’t it be nice to add photography to your list of skills?
It creates connection – many of us don’t realize just how much photos of ourselves are able to transform our faceless biz into a relatable person. Real connection happens when people can relate to something and feel close to it. In the case of our creative work, like it or not WE are at the center of it, so why not give our ideal audience the opportunity to connect with us?
More comfort in your own skin- it can be weird seeing ourselves in photos. It can also feel awkward taking the shots. But over time with a little practice, you will get more comfortable seeing yourself and hopefully even seeing your own beauty.
It’s fun– But seriously, it is. Once you try it, you will see what we mean. We promise.
Where should we begin?
Something that helped Karina tremendously as she began to develop her photography business, was a 30-day self-portrait challenge – taking at least one photo of herself every day for a month! At the beginning this was a sometimes-awkward experience for her, but over time the photos she started taking of herself got dramatically better and her camera shy feelings started to fade.
Because the self-portrait challenge was so helpful, we have chosen to make it a key part of our latest eCourse – Change Your Lens: 2 Weeks to Better Biz Photos. Even if you aren’t taking the course, we invite you to join in our two-week self-portrait challenge on Instagram. Be sure to include the hashtag #2weeksofme so we can follow you and cheer on all our brave participants.
Know someone you would like to see more pictures of? Forward this article!
Hate taking selfies? Tell us about it here!