promise

I love Promise Tangeman. Her blog is such an inspiration in so many ways. Most recently because of this:

"Putting pressure on yourself, or comparing yourself too much to other artists is one of those triggers that will send you into the creative depths of despair. STAY AWAY FROM THAT. Let others inspire you, encourage you, and even push you to be better… but don’t let them defeat you or what you are doing. Just don’t let it go there. Because those are only lies that will hurt you and your creative heart."

Oh how I need to remember that sometimes! I'm at the beginning stages of this photography experience, I know that, and I'm excited about the potential to grow that's in front of me. But sometimes the amount I don't know overwhelms me as I look at other photographer's work and I feel like I'm never going to think like them and shoot like them, both in how they actually go about it and at their level. But what Promise said reminded me that I am an individual. I'm made to be me, and I'm not made to shoot like other photographers. I hope someday I will be able to shoot at their level, but I don't HAVE to see the things they see the way they see them.

So, thanks God, for making me me, unique to what you want me to be.