“I’m sitting here a week before my first big gig, a magazine shoot. I’ve only been shooting 2 years, about 6 months at the sort of level I’d class as “semi pro”. And I’ve been given a chance that not many others would, yet im sitting here doubting my ability! Thinking what am I doing im out of my own depths? Maybe I should quit! How did you take it before your first major shoot? Did you have the same nerves and emotions?”
This question came in recently via email. Seemed like a good one to share.
How did I handle it? Did I have the same nerves and emotions?
Hell yes, I was scared shitless.
But weren’t we all scared the first time we did anything of substance? You can even take ‘substance’ out of the equation entirely….[click the 'continue reading' link below]
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…I was scared the first time I rode a bike, drove a car, sang karaoke, and kissed a girl at the Skate King roller rink.
Fear–most certainly in art–can be an amazing motivator if you can harness the nasty side of it. The key is repetition. The more you shoot, the more art you make, the more things you send out into the world, the more gigs you get under your belt, the more mistakes you make, the more you fail, the harder you fail, the more you learn, the more comfortable you become.
And when you start feeling too comfortable? That’s when you do something for the first time all over again. Let fear become your friend.
And so it goes.
Which reminds me, here’s an interesting book: Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
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Get my every move: Follow Chase Jarvis on Twitter
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I love how long the conversation continues to go on for, and how the discussion continues to live and breathe and change.
Quick Question Chase:
You meet with a client to discuss details, and they seem really excited, then come back and say they went a different route: How do you move it forward and into a job, or do you just write it off?
thanks
The only fear I have is the fear of showing myself, for fear the vision isn't consigning with that of the client and then losing future work. This very thought defeats my ability to work, so with that it goes to show why you cannot be afraid.
Shooting as therapy!!? For us YES!
Thought I was alone with all this fear stuff! Good to hear I am not alone in this.
Anyway I would like to thank Chase J for his "Create, Share and Sustain" concept. This is actually what made me take the steps necessary for our site http://www.doepicstuff.com (influenced by T Selby) to get created and then launched this week.
Even though I have been struggling with the fear stuff each session so far – it is getting easier. Same goes for my friend Johan S. We do it as therapy. The site makes us take small steps toward something we like to do, but do not dare.
We call this style creative documentary..
Good luck to you all!!
Embrace your fear!
Everyone gets nervous before a big event. That's only natural.
Embrace the shoot!
Focus on what you have to do and when the time comes, just do—, go with the flow.
You can only do what you feel is your best.
Can also highly recommend The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
LOVE the Hunter S. Thompson quote!
I am in agreement that fear is something everyone struggles with at various points in their career. Recognizing, and wrangling, that fear can be considered a job skill just as marketing is considered a skill necessary to the professional photographer. Wonderful article that I will be returning to as a resource – Thanks Chase!
It is very inspirational. Thanks for the post. Made me think of many things.
wow
never thought it would be online but this is my question 
it went amazingly well!
it ran press, got on front cover
this is a out take from the shoot
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3877247&id;=95269550753
thank you for this post. i totally can relate to this. thank you for the motivation!