Note: Photographers’ Friday is a weekly blog series directed toward professional photographers, and in some instances, serious amateur photographers. All Photographers’ Friday blog posts will assume that readers have a basic working knowledge of digital SLR cameras, but if you’re left with questions or don’t understand any of the information, don’t hesitate to ask. We love e-mails!

—
Like every Friday, this post is for other photographers. But today I’m not talking about any techniques for capturing better images or providing a how-to. Today I just want to talk about comparison, and how it undermines our own creativity and sense of accomplishment — for all of us.

I don’t care if your photography business has been thriving for years with more inquiries than you can possibly book, or if you’re struggling to get your venture off the ground; I don’t care if you’ve accomplished every goal you’ve put to paper, or if you’re still struggling to even write your list of goals. You have felt it. I know you have. You’ve looked at other photographers and thought, “I’ll never be able to ______,” or “I don’t understand why they’re getting so much more recognition than I am when my work seems just as good,” or “How come they keep booking these perfect clients when I’m struggling to line up jobs?”

It doesn’t matter what your specific struggle is within your business. You just need to know that you’re not the only person who has ever faced it. And that even the photographers you idolize still share these same struggles. Really. They do. Because there is no pinnacle of success that negates every other longing; there is no one accomplishment that will fulfill every ambition. There will always be something you can do better, some goal that will be bigger, and just out of reach.Earlier this year, I spent a few minutes chatting with a photographer whose work I truly admire and whose career trajectory has really inspired me as my own business has grown. And as we talked about feeling inadequate and reaching business goals, she mentioned something in passing that about knocked me to the floor: She mentioned, somewhat dejectedly, that she is just dying to book a wedding at a venue where I’ve had the privilege to work. She has found great success — a fully booked calendar, notice from her peers, a big following online, destination weddings at exotic locations. But she can still hear that a newer-to-the-business photographer has done a wedding at a venue she wishes someone would hire her to shoot at and feel that shooting pain of comparison. “How did she get hired to shoot there when I haven’t, and I’ve been around longer?” Or something along those lines.

So look to other photographers for advice and guidance, but don’t make a checklist to see where you measure up to them and where you fall short. Because the truth is, we’ll all fall short somewhere. Or more likely, in lots of areas. We’ll all find other photographers whose careers are what we wish ours were, or whose clients seem to love them more, or whose accolades clutter their desks the way to-do lists and ballpoint pens clutter mine.

I’ve got an analogy for you. As a child, I was never the gawky, gangly one. When I grew, it was always a matter of growing out before growing up. And for Christmas when I was six, my aunt and uncle sent me this cute little customized watch with my photograph inside the watch face. My mother glanced at it and said, “Who is that?” You see, the picture had been taken the summer before — and I had finished my growth spurt since then, growing up to my usual-shaped self instead of the very round-faced girl who had only grown out, not yet up, when that picture was snapped.

Our businesses are like that, too. Just as most of us feel about our physical shapes, as our businesses shift from one shape to another, we probably won’t ever think they’re quite perfect. There will always be that bigger goal for your business. But it’s still yours. And it’s still growing.~ Laura