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- š¤ #017: The Godfather & The Guggenheim
š¤ #017: The Godfather & The Guggenheim
(werenāt built in a day)
Are you struggling to stay consistent? I know the feeling.
Hereās an excerpt from the book Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield that might help you.
The professional mindset works in two ways. It's important for us to grasp the distinction.
First, the pro mindset is a discipline that we use to overcome Resistance. To defeat the self-sabotaging habits of procrastination, self-doubt, susceptibility to distraction, perfectionism, and shallowness, we enlist the self-strengthening habits of order, regularity, discipline, and a constant striving after excellence.
That's not hard to understand. But what about the magic? What about madness? What about flashes of brilliance and uncontrollable outbursts of genius? How does the professional mindset help there? Isn't it too severe, too hardcore, too regimented?
Answer: no.
The monk glimpses the face of God not by scaling a peak in the Himalayas, but by sitting still in silence.
Yoga, meditation, and the martial arts access the soul by way of the body. The physical leads to the spiritual. The humble produces the sublime.
It seems counterintuitive, but it's true: in order to achieve "flow," magic, "the zone," we start by being common and ordinary and workmanlike. We set our palms against the stones in the garden wall and search, search, search until at last, in the instant when we're ready to give up, our fingers fasten upon the secret door.
Like a child entering a meadow, we step over the threshold, forgetting everything except the butterfly that flits across our vision.
From this play arises Guernica and The Godfather and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
If you donāt have all the answers, thatās okay. Nobody else does either.
I am in year nine of trying to become a world class photographer, year one of getting serious about using content to share what Iāve learned & help others. If it ever looks like I know what Iām doing, donāt trust your instincts. I have so little of this figured out. And I donāt know how much I should care.
Because when we get caught up in how mysterious the path forward is, how unsure we are what we should do next, and we spend time strategizing and planning ad infinitum, we let that mystery overwhelm us, we burn our limited time that could otherwise be spent on what very well might be the most important move on the chess board:
Accepting that itās not all gonna be clear, taking a deep breath, and just doing the next right thing, right now.
šPART TWO: TRACKING MY PROGRESS
š” Fig. 1: Captainās Log
Commercial bookings: I am spending my nights and weekends working on treatments, shotlists, estimates, etc. for a few bookings that have come in. It is a remarkable time for me. I feel, more than ever, like a pro. It is very rewarding to have a client believe in what I can do and be willing to pay for it. Itās also humbling, because I want to deliver.
UV filters vs. lenscaps: Tip from my friend Geoff: I was accidentally shooting pictures of the inside of my lens cap on my Contax G1. He recommended skipping the lens cap, just put a cheap UV filter on the lens. How did I not think of this sooner?
Conciseness: I continue to get feedback in Cut30 that Iām going too long on many of my videos. I want to work on getting down from 45 seconds on average to 30. Maximize value, minimize fluff. Letās see if I can.
āMade with Ray-Ban | Metaā: Seeing more videos pop up on Instagram with this āMade with Ray-Ban Metaā in the location field on Instagram. I really like mine, but wasnāt sure if thisād take off. I think this is an indicator these glasses are starting to get wider adoption. I am gonna use mine more in 2025.
šø Fig. 2: this weekās stills
PS - that red carousel totally flopped. I get it, I get it, make these things easier to read. I got you.
š¬ fig. 3: this weekās videos
1/13: Lighting Tutorial #20 IG1/15: Posing Tutorial #11 IG 1/16: ā94 Contax G1 Early Impressions IG 1/17: Photographerās Secret Weapon IG
Best of the week:
šfig. 4: audience growth
Instagram: 12,675 followers, +498 (+4%) vs. last weekTikTok: 1302 followers, +5 (+0%) vs. last weekNewsletter: 1274 subscribers, 1228 subscribers, +46 (+4%) vs. last week
šFree mood board #09, tennis editorial: LINKšFive free Lightroom presets: LINKš ļøAll the cameras + flashes I use: LINK
Shorter issue today - Anything you want to see more of? let me know.
Garrett
