Taking the Side Roads
- Copyright Geoffrey Hudson 2010 – All Rights Reserved
My biggest goal (along with every other photographer in the world) is to get one of my images on the cover of a national magazine. I can’t think of one photographer that wouldn’t want one of their photos on the cover of Time or Sports Illustrated. But unfortunately for me, I don’t think I’ll ever achieve this goal. Its not because I’m not a great photographer (my mom says I am), its because I don’t know how to get there.
Its going to be a long painful road if I think I can go from a zero to a hero overnight so I’m going to change the options on my GPS from quickest route to side roads only.
Here are some roads I’ll be taking:
1) Tell my neighbor I’m a photographer and show them a photo when they don’t believe me. If your mother, neighbor, or the weird guy down the street that walks his dog at 3 am doesn’t know who you are and the work you do, how is a national magazine?
2) Get noticed. Get a local paper to publish one of my images.
3) Take the town by storm. The first thing people in my town should think of when they hear the word photography is me.
4) Win a photo contest. Exposure overload!
5) Do a photo shoot for Time. Check and Mate.
It could take the rest of my life to accomplish any of these and I might not ever achieve my ultimate goal, but I know trying to get there will be more rewarding if I take the side roads.
What roads are you taking?
Author Info: Geoffrey Hudson
While as a child growing up watching Tom and Jerry, I wanted to be a cartoonist but as years went on I learned that outside of stick figures, l couldn't draw very well.
In high school I wanted to be a musician but after picking up a guitar I realized I was lacking one crucial aspect, rhythm.
In college I wanted to be a video game designer but after countless classes of writing code, it gave me a headache.
After college I dabbled in video for a while. I made a few short films, did some wedding and highlight videos but decided it was too costly and time consuming.
In January of 2008 I purchased my first DSLR camera. The moment I first pressed down the shutter button I fell in love and haven't put it down since. Being able to tell a story and capture a memory that will last a lifetime is what I have been looking for my entire life.
I decided to take my new passion of photography to the next level and started a business in hopes of telling the stories of other people and giving them memories they can cherish the rest of their lives.
I’ve seen the road signs on that road of thought!
For me, the steps I took included trying to combine my plan A in life (getting them books of blues published) and B (professional career). At this point, people in my career field know me by my pen name and my blog site is about my plight to use my career and passion to cross promote each other.
It’s seemed to be off to a good start. My site is a redesign away from being worth looking at. I’ll be helping out down at Blog Indiana this August. I’m making friends, I’m learning skills. And Im tring to apply the skills to both endeavors.
Sounds like you’re enjoying the ride.
Nice to see someone else with an action plan they aren’t hording to themselves. It seems vulnerable, yet inspiring. Thanks For Sharing!
So many times it is hard to not just want to steer onto an expressway way of thinking, or wanting to go double the speed limit just to get Home sooner. By making those choices we take risks that could affect us the rest of our lives. A kind of creative car wreck, that without thinking we look back on and admit our stupidity even if its only to ourselves.
Reprogram/Throw out the GPS – Sometimes its better to get lost in where you are, and learn to navigate in unfamiliar ground.
In your life the only Cartographer for you is you!