Creation is NOT Competition
I’m SICK of people turning photography or any other type of art (but especially photography in today’s society) into a game or competition of “who is better” or who did what/who got to a spot first or who has this or that. Why bring so much negativity? People commenting on photos, tapping away on their keyboards on the mighty Internet with negative attitudes, putting people down like they themselves have never taken a “bad” photo…Step away from the computer, stop wasting your time and get outside. I’ll bet those people you’re putting down are out actually having FUN taking photos, while you’re sitting at a computer screen making fun of them. Besides, what makes a photo “bad?” Why not be happy and just have FUN being out with friends or even by yourself, taking photos or creating? It’s all about feeling, and it should be something you enjoy for so many reasons.
If you can’t have fun doing it, then you have really lost sight (or never had it in the first place) of the real reason to create. Do what you do, and do it with love and have fun doing it. If you can have fun, you know you’re doing it right! If you have to try and go to war with other artists, photographers, musicians, writers, etc. you should just stop, because that is not wanted in this community, and you’re going to end up losing 100% of the time to someone who truly cares about their craft. Why is this? Because instead of being immature and battling, they’re creating from the soul, while your soul lacks creation, because it’s overflowed with negativity.
If I want to post a damn pointless photo of some smashed computers or some people under a chandelier, I will. I don’t care if they’re great photos or not, they were moments in time that I enjoyed, whether someone else understands or not – it makes me feel good. I don’t need the acceptance of someone carrying around a bunch of negativity anyway.
Creation is NOT a competition!
Very often, I’m asked what gear I use for my photography, videography, etc. Questions ranging from what type of camera/cameras I use, what lenses I use, backpacks, memory cards, even what type of laptop I recommend, or what type of introductory camera I recommend…all that stuff, and more!
Well, of course I love to recommend camera gear or adventure gear that I trust and love, so at the end of each post I create here on my blog, I like to give a bit of a run-down on gear I use almost all the time!
So here it is! My entire (or most of it) list of photography/editing/adventure gear that I use.
My Camera (Sony a7riii) – https://amzn.to/2AFtzQv
Alternative Camera – https://amzn.to/2VHjR9h
Theta 360 Camera – https://amzn.to/2CaRwzm
Sandisk Memory Cards – https://amzn.to/2SN5sX6
Sony 16-35 4.0 – https://amzn.to/2HgLFhN
Zeiss 55 1.8 – https://amzn.to/2SK4Dys
Zeiss 85 1.8 Batis – https://amzn.to/2SNRQLm
Laowa 12mm 2.8 Zero-D – https://amzn.to/2AESLXD
My Favorite Backpack – https://amzn.to/2RKTi44
Tripod 1 – https://amzn.to/2SKxxON
Tripod 2 – https://amzn.to/2M2gUM6
MSI Laptop (great for editing, & much more) – https://amzn.to/2shGfZn
My e-books – https://amzn.to/2Bumcwo
Hardcover books and prints available at – www.oddworldstudio.com
Well spoken, my sentiments exactly..nothing more deadly than competing with others for someone’s opinion..
Perfectly said. Art is completely individual and why anyone feels they have a right to put down someone’s work is beyond me. I’m not sure what it’s like in America but here i have found the urbex movement to be pretty bitchy and all about who can get what first and it’s filled with so much negative. Thank you for this article I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way
Oh it is all very much the same here 🙁 So you know exactly how it is here haha. I’m glad you can agree with this though. Thank you for your kind words.
Very true! It gets to be pretty ridiculous at times 🙁
hehe isn’t everything on the Net a competition? I like your style, so a high 5 to you Johnny. 🙂
Thank you very much! A lot of things become unnecessary competitions, but I’m glad you do understand what I mean here haha 🙂
Keep doing what you’re doing – it’s from the heart, it’s great and it’s your art.
Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind words 🙂
People are idiots. They are basically not nice. When I was four, another child walked up to me and without provocation, pulled me off a swing and dumped me in the dirt in the only good outfit I owned. I went crying to my mother and she told me that when people do or says mean things to you for what looks like no reason, they are probably jealous. It took me a lifetime to internalize this, but it’s true. If people are unkindly criticizing your work, you can be sure they wish they could do what you do. They’d never admit it, but it’s true.
This is a very, very true statement! I have always been told the same. Some people are just ridiculous. I was basically just ranting because of some stuff that I saw commented on one of my friend’s photos. I see it every day, however and it just gets to be ridiculous in the world of art.
I love all of your photos. I’m sorry I don’t usually comment on them and tell you so. Don’t listen to the negativity, those people aren’t important. They’re just insecure about their own work and need to make themselves feel good by tearing down other people. You should feel sorry for them. I suffer from depression, I know a few things about ignoring negativity and being happy with yourself.
Thank you very much. It’s all good, I was just going off on a random rant after seeing some very negative things said to a friend of mine. But thank you so much! 🙂
Not to be “that guy” or something, but while I know what you mean with people making a “competition” (or a case of “good and bad” or “best”) out of everything, does that really happen so much in photography? – Because even though I’m not thát deeply into it, whenever I see communities, forums or what have you, they seem to be fairly balanced and reasonable about talking about photography. Like just exchanging tips and whatever, as opposed to going all “judge” on everything.
Perhaps I’ve just missed it (luckily), but I’m pretty positive it might be worse with things like music.
But then, it might be because you’re into photography more, and I’m mainly a musician, so it’s a perspective-thing. (Ha?… Photography-references!…)
Anyway, I didn’t think/know it was that bad.
That said, of course I agree, as a creative myself, it’s just about doing it and enjoying it and creating the best YOU as an individual can. Of course also trying to be unique instead of trying to do the same as someone else better. Especially with such a thing as photography, because (while it’s also true for music and the like) I see so much of the same. Like you can find Instagram-pages of all the same kinds of styles of landscapes and buildings and so on, it makes everything look like carbon copies, which is boring.
Something I personally love about photography is that… you can’t ever actually re-create the exact same image or moment. Because it was that one split second in the past, and that will never be again.
That might count for every boring frame you could shoot, even with your hand in front of the lens, but capturing real life in a nice way is special and every frame is unique and you can only make it more unique by giving it an interesting spin. – And that’s not always possible by just manipulating it in post, like throwing a filter over it or some such thing. – Nothing wrong with doing that tastefully, but I like to create the base image as good as possible.
To kind of refer back to music; The performance/recording should be good in the first place. Using a lot of post-processing isn’t going to actually make it better, it’s just some polish and tweaking.
Anyway; Nobody might really see this anyway, just my two Euro-cents.