Closing The_Gap

This week we pickup where we left with the previous episode. There are so many things to say about the topic of turning pro that we just couldn't fit them all into one episode.On this one, we talk about:Turning pro is a journey of self-discovery.Clients care for the experience more than anything else.How good you need to be start?Why you don't need to justify your prices.Learning how to run a business.Specialists vs. generalists.

In these uncertain times, many people are being furloughed, have lost their jobs, ot are struggling financially. It they have been considering becoming a professional photographer for some time, they might think now is the time to do it.Taking this step, if not done with the right mindset, can be dangerous, however.In this episode of the podcast, the first in a series about turning pro, Fabrizia and Ugo discuss what it takes to become a pro and the mistakes to avoid.

It is said that our brains only remember things in three ways:Through highly emotional connection, like deep joy or deep traumaThrough repetitiveness over a long period of time Through photosWhen one of these ways isn’t available, the memory will fade and eventually get archived, deleted from consciousness. We only remember our lives through one of these “anchors”Unfortunately, when photos are simply digital files, they’re hardly ever looked at, and often end up lost, deleted, or corrupted. Even when we save photos on a cloud service, that’s where they end up: literally on a cloud, far away, forgotten. If we don’t print them, it’s very likely that we won’t see them again.Eyewitness is an opinion campaign, spearheaded by our own Fabrizia Costa, to raise awareness about the importance of printing your photos.Ugo and Fabrizia are back on the podcast to discuss this.

In last episode we discussed why photographers and all creatives, even if they are not writers, should start writing and we listed some of the way that creativity and productivity can benefit from writing.This week we continue the conversation on the topic of writing. We give you some more practical tips on how to develop and maintain a writing habit. We analyze and debunk some of the typical objections, like “I am not a good writer”, “I don’t know what to write about”, and “People will laugh at me.”Mentioned in this episodeSuperpowers by Fabrizia CostaUgo Cei Photography

17 – The Importance Of Writing, Part OneIf you want to be a great photographer, you need to learn how to write.We know this is counter-intuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense and we hope that listening to this podcast will convince you that it’s actually true.This week, we talk about the reasons why you should be writing. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, when we will give you some very practical tips on how to start developing a writing habit.The Benefits Of WritingWriting helps you avoid distractions.Writing helps you communicate more effectively.Writing helps you think more clearly.Writing is essential to achieving commercial success.Writing helps you remember.Writing influences your speaking.Writing teaches yourself while you teach others.Writing makes a name for yourself.Writing is storage for your ideas.

This week on the podcast we talk about jealousy and why being envious of the success of others is yet another manifestation of the Resistance.

In today’s over-competitive world, the word mediocrity has taken on a decidedly negative connotation. When we say something is mediocre, we mean it is not good, even worse than average.In reality, on any scale by which we can measure the quality of what we produce, something that is of median quality is, by definition, better than 50% of the rest. Is that such a bad place to be? We don’t think so.There are some photographers whose work we admire greatly. Looking at our bookshelves right now we can see books by Steve McCurry, Sebastião Salgado, Nick Brandt, Art Wolfe, and others. If we put our work besides theirs, we can’t help feeling that ours is so much inferior that the only word to define it is mediocre, in comparison.Our first advice to those who feel the same is the following: if you want to overcome your mediocrity, do more work. Study the work of the masters and practice deliberately. If it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient at anything, as Malcolm Gladwell says, then start rolling up your sleeves.There are no shortcuts, but we can guarantee you that you will become better, if you don’t give up.“I know that to paint the sea really well, you need to look at it every hour of every day in the same place, so that you can understand its way.”Claude MonetIn the end, however, you will never be completely satisfied with whatever goal you have achieved, because dissatisfaction is part of human nature and is what drives us to reach even loftier goals.Another piece of advice that we feel we should share is this:Stop comparing your work to that of others.Most of all, never ever compare your work to what you see posted online by those who rake in thousands of likes for each photo they post on Facebook or 500px. That is just a popularity contest and the factors that determine popularity have little or nothing to do with quality.If you do and if you make your satisfaction depend on popularity, we can assure you that you will never be satisfied.“I’ve been woken from enlightened man’s dream / Checkin’ Instagram comments to crowdsource my self esteem.”Kanye WestAppreciate what you have, do not compare yourself to others and every achievement will be more meaningful.

The topic of today's episode was inspired by an article on artsy.net that presents the results of a research on the relation between the degree of success that many famous artists enjoyed and the number of their connections.The conclusion of the research is that "for successful artists, making friends may be more important than producing novel art."We discuss the importance of making connections in today's world, be it in person and virtually, on social networks. It turns out that there are some behaviors that would be considered normal, if not absolutely expected, in real life, that most people forget in the virtual world.We also give some tips for making the most of online connections, without looking like a complete dork.What do you think about this? Let us know what you think by leaving a message using the button below.