2020: What I've Learned

With 2021 upon us, it's a good time to reflect upon the past year, and see how we've grown. Of course, this past year was unlike any we can remember, and the challenges it brought were difficult. I feel very lucky that I've been able to hold my job and continue working remotely. I know many people who haven't been so lucky, and my heart goes out to them. It's as good a time as any to find ways we can provide assistance for those who need it.

It's times like these that provide opportunities for us to be introspective and see where we can grow, as well as see how we've grown.

In the realm of photography, the most important step for me personally was breaking free of the pressures that come with sharing work on social media. The nature of social media propels us to strive for more likes and followers, and getting more "eyeballs" on our work. It makes us think, rather foolishly, that the more likes we get, the better our work is. So we load up on hashtags, boost our saturation sliders, and maybe even post photos that we don't actually like that much, but we know will "do well". We blind ourselves to our own creativity in the endless pursuit of likes. We trade our unique voice for more followers. We go to that "iconic" place to get that "iconic" shot because we know it'll perform well, even though it does nothing for our personal growth as photographers. It's a never ending chase that leaves one feeling quite empty, because there's always someone out there who has a higher "social media status" than you do.

I've done each and every one of these things in the past. And I freely admit, even after posting those photos, and typing out those hashtags, and getting those thousands of likes, I wasn't satisfied. Because I knew other photographers got even more likes. It's a terrible, endless chase, and it left me feeling hollow.

In the past year, I've changed my outlook on everything. I stopped using hashtags, because, to be honest, isn't it a bit strange that we need to post 30 hashtags on each photo just to get more views? And more importantly, I started focusing more on capturing photos that I actually enjoy taking. For me, taking photos is secondary to being in nature, and I hope it always remains that way. I'm lucky that for me, it's purely a hobby, not a profession, so I can create work that I like, and not feel pressured into creating work that will please the masses. Now, it no longer matters whether my photo gets 10 likes or 1,000, because I'm not doing it for the numbers. I'm doing it to share my journey and my feelings, to convey that emotion that stirred me when out in the natural world. I feel unshackled, free to explore the edges of my creativity, seeing the world in new ways, without being held back by the nagging feeling that my work isn't satisfying the social media algorithms.

I feel my aesthetic has changed as well, and I'm less interested in the grand "epic" views, favoring the smaller details more. As I'm now living in Indiana (for the present), I'm able to challenge myself to try to find those wonderful moments in nature to capture. They don't come easily like they do in the American southwest or Iceland. Over the past several years, I've learned more about myself. Having lived in the photogenic southwestern US for several years, which is where my photography journey began, then venturing out to the east coast, and now settling in the midwest, one thing that links all these places together is the rejuvenating realm of nature. It doesn't matter if you're at the edge of the Grand Canyon or in your tiny local woodland; the feeling of the air, the sounds of the outdoors are the key ingredients for the essence of what nature provides.

Just a quick scroll through the most popular photos on social media will show you that it's obvious that we're all caught up in the travel bug. It may be uncomfortable to acknowledge it, but the truth is that if you just happen to have access to what we call "amazing" scenery, like big mountains, waterfalls, the Milky Way, etc, you'll have a significantly better chance at having success on social media as a nature photographer, as opposed to someone who lives in, oh, I dunno, say... Indiana. So the rest of us who may not have the luxury of living so close to these amazing places feel pressured to travel, simply to attain that same success. It's a pretty demoralizing process, with jealousy being at its core. I'm thankful that within the past year, I've been able to see through all this, and have begun to see how true success isn't in the numbers, it's in the way you feel. Of course, if this is your primary source of income, the reality is quite different. But for me, being in nature is my first and foremost priority, and that feeling doesn't discriminate whether I'm at my local forest preserve or Death Valley.

The world of nature photography is changing, and I truly feel that soon enough, we'll all be rather bored by those eye-popping photos of Patagonia, Iceland and Zion. I believe that eventually, we'll all learn to be more introspective and appreciate the subtleties of the nature we have right outside our windows. I believe that striving for social media success will be replaced by striving for a feeling of peace in the nature we have around us, and the healing it provides. I recently had discussions with Alex Noriega and Thomas Heaton, two photographers who have bodies of work that inspire me, and out of those discussions came the above message. They both reaffirmed the idea that success in numbers isn't as meaningful as success in how our photos make us, personally, feel. Alex's take was that as a nature photographer, one should be focused most of all on finding their own unique voice. Everyone, everywhere, has their own way of seeing the world, and we shouldn't be scared to explore that vision, no matter if our online audiences care for it or not. Thomas was certain that the future of nature photography isn't the "epic" wide vistas that clog up our feeds these days, but rather, those anonymous scenes, the little details, that any of us can find anywhere if we really look.

Nature photography, like anything, is a journey. We go through phases and find inspiration along the way. But the key point to remember is that we shouldn't be so focused on the "destination". It is not locations that define the essence of nature photography; it is moments. The journey itself IS the destination, and the more hard work and originality we strive for, the more meaningful the journey becomes.

Wishing you all a great 2021.