I've been going back and listening to Ibarionex's interviews over at The Candid Frame. I found one this morning that really resonated with me that I think deserves special attention. In podcast #44 he doesn't actually interview anyone. Instead he talks about where he's at with his art now and the challenges he's facing.
What I found especially interesting is that he faces the same problem many of us do- comparing our own work to other photographers and having the sense that ours isn't good enough. How many times have you said, "Wow, if I could shoot like that, maybe I could do something with my art," or "why bother, I'll never be that good."
An interesting take on this is his discussion of reviewing other people's portfolios. While much of it was technically competent enough to garner commercial work, he found that often times people's personal portfolios showed much more creativity and passion. Draw whatever conclusions you want from this but what I got out of it was this- trust your vision. It's yours and yours alone. Own it and be proud of it.
It also made me realize that I need to read one of the books Ibarionex recommends- Art and Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking.
