Confidence as a photographer can sometimes feel like a moving target! Join Phyllis, Kim and Cara as they discuss the ways that they struggle with confidence in their photography and tips that they use to battle the comparison monster and grow confidence in their photography.
Transcript
It's time to laugh, learn and take your photography to the
Jaz:next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras, Cara,
Jaz:Kim, and Phyllis.
Kimberly Beer:Hey there cowgirls with cameras. It's Kim
Kimberly Beer:with Be More Business and Kim Beer photography,
Cara Taylor Swift:Cara with Fast Horse photography.
Phyllis Burchett:And Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette Photo How
Phyllis Burchett:y'all doing this week? Well, considering
Cara Taylor Swift:this is our fourth attempt to get this
Cara Taylor Swift:started today because we keep laughing and goofing and messing
Cara Taylor Swift:up our I think our listeners are in for quite a treat. So how are
Cara Taylor Swift:you guys doing today?
Phyllis Burchett:Fantastic.
Kimberly Beer:Well, apparently, I'm really read both from
Kimberly Beer:laughing and from the weirdness in my camera. Oh, there we go.
Kimberly Beer:You open up to this week.
Cara Taylor Swift:This is a rough one. We are recording you
Cara Taylor Swift:guys in the evening, which we don't normally do. And
Cara Taylor Swift:apparently we all need to go take a nap before we get rolling
Cara Taylor Swift:on this episode. But I would love to tell everyone what I've
Cara Taylor Swift:been doing this week. For those of you that are listening,
Cara Taylor Swift:whenever you're listening, it is just a couple of weeks before
Cara Taylor Swift:Christmas right now that we're recording. So for me, I'm done
Cara Taylor Swift:shooting for the year, which feels really amazing. So
Cara Taylor Swift:anything I do is I know it's just for fun. I'm just shooting
Cara Taylor Swift:for me right now, which is awesome. And I'm working on
Cara Taylor Swift:finishing design work and then doing pre holiday orders. So
Cara Taylor Swift:every day I have ups FedEx, the Postal Service, and then a bunch
Cara Taylor Swift:of just totally random vans that I guess or maybe outsourced
Cara Taylor Swift:delivery people showing up at my door and they're bringing prints
Cara Taylor Swift:and framed pieces and freight I had to go take my pickup truck
Cara Taylor Swift:down the street the other day to get a giant freight piece picked
Cara Taylor Swift:up because semi trucks can no longer back down our road
Cara Taylor Swift:because there's so many like low hanging limbs. So I had to go
Cara Taylor Swift:pick up a freight piece down the roadway pickup truck to complete
Cara Taylor Swift:the delivery to my house. So it's been a crazy week of
Cara Taylor Swift:unboxing having fun with that, of course, and just inspecting
Cara Taylor Swift:products and getting it delivered getting it rewrapped
Cara Taylor Swift:and delivered, which is always a load of fun. I'm also cleaning
Cara Taylor Swift:my office right now, which if you listen to us over if you
Cara Taylor Swift:listen to Kim and I over on The Business Animal, one of the
Cara Taylor Swift:things I love to do is I love to clean up my office, I feel like
Cara Taylor Swift:it makes me so much more productive. And it just makes my
Cara Taylor Swift:space feel so good. I don't know if you guys are that way, but I
Cara Taylor Swift:love a clean space when it comes to being organized and working.
Cara Taylor Swift:Oh, maybe
Phyllis Burchett:that would help me then.
Cara Taylor Swift:It might I mean honestly, if you're feeling
Cara Taylor Swift:unorganized, you know, and I know how you can be sometimes
Cara Taylor Swift:I'm always unorganized.
Kimberly Beer:Me to fill this me too.
Cara Taylor Swift:If I just feel like I don't want to work
Cara Taylor Swift:today. And I'm just like, I can't feel it. If I take a break
Cara Taylor Swift:and just Clean My Space. I feel so much better. And I feel so
Cara Taylor Swift:much more productive. And I just want to be in my work
Cara Taylor Swift:environment after I do that. So yeah. What about you guys? What
Cara Taylor Swift:do you been up to?
Kimberly Beer:Well, I'm sitting over here imagining how much fun
Kimberly Beer:your dogs are having with all these deliveries that you're
Kimberly Beer:getting.
Cara Taylor Swift:Yet Well, you know how loud they are when we
Cara Taylor Swift:get a delivery when we're recording The Business Animal in
Cara Taylor Swift:the mornings. And it's like I have to mute because they're
Cara Taylor Swift:barking their heads off and howling. It's like that all day
Cara Taylor Swift:long. On top of it, we're renovating a bathroom. So I've
Cara Taylor Swift:got oh gosh, what's his name? I'm already forgetting his name.
Cara Taylor Swift:I have a man coming in and working on our bathroom. So
Cara Taylor Swift:every time he goes outside and comes back in, it's like he's a
Cara Taylor Swift:stranger again. And so they lose their mind. And they're building
Cara Taylor Swift:a house across the street. So I don't honestly remove all of our
Cara Taylor Swift:recordings to the evening at this point because the mornings
Cara Taylor Swift:have been so loud. It's been off the charts. So
Kimberly Beer:so your dogs have had a busy holiday season.
Cara Taylor Swift:Yeah, they're busy. Phyllis, what
Kimberly Beer:have you been up to?
Phyllis Burchett:Well, our weather is just is typical
Phyllis Burchett:Georgia Southern weather 76 degrees two days ago and
Phyllis Burchett:gorgeous and then and then it's cold and rainy today with like a
Phyllis Burchett:high of 50 So I know that still warm for a lot of people but
Phyllis Burchett:it's just the wet that gets me but you know, I mean it was
Phyllis Burchett:gorgeous. I had time to get out and walk this morning because
Phyllis Burchett:I've been really busy with a lot of family stuff. We had a big
Phyllis Burchett:big wedding this weekend for my great niece and a lot of stuff
Phyllis Burchett:going on with that lot of holiday catching up with friends
Phyllis Burchett:because I love to. I love to entertain so I have a lot of
Phyllis Burchett:people over to my house this time of year. Well when I say a
Phyllis Burchett:lot of people I mean small groups of people but end of the
Phyllis Burchett:year bookkeeping is big on my list for this time of year and
Phyllis Burchett:just a bunch of office work. I sold some stuff at my quite a
Phyllis Burchett:bit of gallery wraps and large P He says at my gallery, and I had
Phyllis Burchett:to know my gallery, my co op that I'm a member of. So I had
Phyllis Burchett:to get my brain into thinking about what I needed to replace
Phyllis Burchett:that with and get out ordered. And then I had a bunch of stuff
Phyllis Burchett:trying to get ready for Kim to do our prints for art of the
Phyllis Burchett:cowgirl that we sell in our booth. And you know, it's hard
Phyllis Burchett:just deciding and trying to figure out what sells you know,
Phyllis Burchett:and what you should what you should spend money on printing.
Phyllis Burchett:Sometimes that can be a really big decision. But yeah, just
Phyllis Burchett:been I've been really busy with catch up and still trying to get
Phyllis Burchett:images done from all my shoots for the whole year. So but my
Phyllis Burchett:set mostly this week has been family stuff with a wedding had
Phyllis Burchett:a lot of people in so what about you cam? What do you been up to?
Kimberly Beer:Well, I'm gearing up and getting excited for our
Kimberly Beer:first event in January, which is art of the cowgirl. And so I've
Kimberly Beer:been just getting some automations put together and
Kimberly Beer:looking at that. I've also been working on automations for
Kimberly Beer:communications and all of our events coming up. So hopefully
Kimberly Beer:everyone will have a beautifully smooth event experience because
Kimberly Beer:the software will take care of things when we are in the middle
Kimberly Beer:of something else like out shooting or something like that,
Kimberly Beer:you'll be able to get your registrations through in a
Kimberly Beer:timely manner and feel the love of everything that goes along
Kimberly Beer:with our events.
Cara Taylor Swift:We seriously thank you for that.
Phyllis Burchett:It does look like you've been super busy.
Phyllis Burchett:Yeah, it looks so good.
Kimberly Beer:Yeah, it's but it's so necessary. And for those
Kimberly Beer:of you who don't use automation in your business, if you're a
Kimberly Beer:professional photographer and have a business, let me tell
Kimberly Beer:you, automation is the way that you can have superpowers. So
Kimberly Beer:that's what I've been doing is giving us super powers for the
Kimberly Beer:rest of the year. I've also been really focused on recording
Kimberly Beer:videos, tip videos, and I'm working on my iPad workflow
Kimberly Beer:video that I'm hoping to get released around the first of the
Kimberly Beer:year. So I've been madly recording things for Photoshop
Kimberly Beer:and Lightroom that you're gonna get to see all year long. And
Kimberly Beer:I'm super excited about those. So be watching for that to come
Kimberly Beer:out. And then in addition to that, I've been writing a ton of
Kimberly Beer:blogs as well. I'm like in writing mode. I'm in content
Kimberly Beer:creation mode, and I am planning for next year and I could not be
Kimberly Beer:happier. It's an amazing time of year for me. So yeah. What are
Kimberly Beer:we talking about today? Building competence as a photographer.
Cara Taylor Swift:Oh, I'm gonna like this topic.
Phyllis Burchett:I'm gonna need this topic.
Kimberly Beer:Oh, stop it. Yes. Stop it famous Phyllis.
Cara Taylor Swift:I wasn't gonna say it. I was not gonna
Cara Taylor Swift:say it in you said it. I didn't say it. Phyllis, I want to mark
Cara Taylor Swift:that down. Yeah, you know, I want to mark it down that I was
Cara Taylor Swift:not the one to say it.
Phyllis Burchett:I'll make a note of that. Well, I think even
Phyllis Burchett:though you may think people are confident we're we know that we
Phyllis Burchett:all have times when we're not super confident. So
Cara Taylor Swift:oh, 100% I think that confidence in
Cara Taylor Swift:photography, it sometimes feels like it's like a constantly
Cara Taylor Swift:shifting set of standards for me, you know, like, it's like
Cara Taylor Swift:one of those moving targets, we were just talking about moving
Cara Taylor Swift:targets the other day, that competence can be a moving
Cara Taylor Swift:target in photography in the photography world, it can be one
Cara Taylor Swift:of those things for me, where I'll be riding high, and then
Cara Taylor Swift:something will happen. And my confidence will just be it's
Cara Taylor Swift:like it gets killed. And I can give a great example of that I
Cara Taylor Swift:had a couple of weeks ago, I had my very first ever photo shoot
Cara Taylor Swift:where I couldn't deliver to my clients, I had a damaged piece
Cara Taylor Swift:in my camera, it was an autofocus issue with my camera.
Cara Taylor Swift:And I didn't realize that I had made it through most of this
Cara Taylor Swift:little mini shoot, and that my images, they weren't as good as
Cara Taylor Swift:they needed to be. And I just I wasn't comfortable with them.
Cara Taylor Swift:And I've never had to make that phone call before and let me
Cara Taylor Swift:tell you, you want a humbling moment. It's when as a
Cara Taylor Swift:photographer, professional photographer, you have to make a
Cara Taylor Swift:phone call like that, and it put my confidence. For weeks. I was
Cara Taylor Swift:terrified to pick up the camera i i was worried that every
Cara Taylor Swift:photoshoot after that I was going to have an issue. And I
Cara Taylor Swift:just didn't trust trust myself for a good two weeks that I had
Cara Taylor Swift:to get several really good shoots under my belt to pull
Cara Taylor Swift:myself out of that place. So when I say competence can feel
Cara Taylor Swift:like a constantly shifting set of standards. It really can and
Cara Taylor Swift:I doubt I'm the only one that will be riding high and then
Cara Taylor Swift:something will happen and the next thing you know you're like,
Cara Taylor Swift:why are people paying me for this? How how I should close my
Cara Taylor Swift:business. I am no longer
Phyllis Burchett:every time I leave a shoot I feel that that
Phyllis Burchett:way like Oh my gosh, I can't believe people pay me to do
Phyllis Burchett:this. What am I doing? Oh my gosh, am I gonna have anything?
Phyllis Burchett:Anything usable out of this? You know? Yeah, every time and then
Phyllis Burchett:and then when I see other people's like, especially for
Phyllis Burchett:doing a group shoot and you see other people's images and you go
Phyllis Burchett:oh my gosh, I don't think I have anything anywhere near that
Phyllis Burchett:good, you know? So yeah, it's a struggle we all do it.
Cara Taylor Swift:Well, I definitely think that and in
Cara Taylor Swift:this world of like constant comparison, where you know,
Cara Taylor Swift:we're only sharing our best work online, like none of us are out
Cara Taylor Swift:there showing our worst work all the all the time. So it's like,
Cara Taylor Swift:you look around you, and you see other people and their highlight
Cara Taylor Swift:reels of their photography, and you're looking at your pictures
Cara Taylor Swift:and you're going through and you're saying, Okay, excellent.
Cara Taylor Swift:Oh, God, what happened there? And oh, my goodness, what was I
Cara Taylor Swift:taking a picture of there. So you have some shots like that,
Cara Taylor Swift:you know, at least I do every session, I'm gonna have a few
Cara Taylor Swift:that are Tossers. And you really do start to wonder, like, where
Cara Taylor Swift:do you stack up? And it can be a confidence killer. What about
Cara Taylor Swift:you, Kim?
Kimberly Beer:So I agree with everything, both of you said i
Kimberly Beer:There are days when I look at the images that I've shot, and
Kimberly Beer:I've been picking. So one of the things I've been doing is I've
Kimberly Beer:been picking images I want to share in 2023 on social media,
Kimberly Beer:and I go through the images, and I'm looking at them, I can't
Kimberly Beer:share that I can't share that I start to see all of the little
Kimberly Beer:flaws in each particular image. And probably I'm the only one
Kimberly Beer:who sees them. So that's a definite competence killer. And
Kimberly Beer:I don't like when I do that to myself. And so I have to kind of
Kimberly Beer:stop and back up and say, This is not you're you're you're
Kimberly Beer:overthinking this, you're you're over, you're over judging
Kimberly Beer:yourself, you're being too harsh. I am always and I believe
Kimberly Beer:this is probably true. The two of you as well, I am by far my
Kimberly Beer:own worst critic, I will always look at my own images in and be
Kimberly Beer:more critical of my images than other people will. And I think
Kimberly Beer:that that is a common thing among all artists that we do. We
Kimberly Beer:do look at that. And Cara and I we just had a discussion very
Kimberly Beer:similar on the business side on The Business Animal about a
Kimberly Beer:topic like this as well, where we talked about comparison being
Kimberly Beer:the thief of joy. And that is a That's a true statement here.
Kimberly Beer:And it's also the thief of competence as well. And the
Kimberly Beer:truth is, as artists, we all have our own vision. And we all
Kimberly Beer:have a slightly different perspective and a different eye.
Kimberly Beer:And so trusting yourself and trusting your your vision and
Kimberly Beer:your lane, so to speak, that you're driving in, is going to
Kimberly Beer:get to the destination you want to go in, I think is half the
Kimberly Beer:battle. Because in the end users eyes, they're just looking at a
Kimberly Beer:beautiful image of a horse doing something or Western lifestyle
Kimberly Beer:or whatever subject it is you're photographing, but in our case,
Kimberly Beer:do usually a horse of some kind, and they see the beauty of the
Kimberly Beer:horse. And they don't pick apart their images quite the same week
Kimberly Beer:way we do. But I too have left workshops, I have left jobs
Kimberly Beer:going Why do people pay me to do this, and then gone home and had
Kimberly Beer:to reassess that. So I think that's a true statement for all
Kimberly Beer:of us. For sure,
Cara Taylor Swift:especially when you are in a position where
Cara Taylor Swift:you have to, you have to produce because that's how you get paid.
Cara Taylor Swift:You know, not everyone that listens to this is pulling an
Cara Taylor Swift:income from their business, from a photography from their
Cara Taylor Swift:photography, passion or from a business, it may not be a
Cara Taylor Swift:business for all of our listeners out there. But when it
Cara Taylor Swift:is something that you have to do and your ability to like be
Cara Taylor Swift:competent and get the job done, is linked to directly to your
Cara Taylor Swift:ability to pay your bills. It is a it is something that can be
Cara Taylor Swift:very scary. So you both are shaking your heads. And it
Cara Taylor Swift:really can be and yeah, I don't know, what do you think about
Cara Taylor Swift:that? The difference between that sometimes? I mean, it's, I
Cara Taylor Swift:don't know, it gives me chills?
Kimberly Beer:It does. And I can tell you another thing that
Kimberly Beer:both of us experience or all of us experience right now is we
Kimberly Beer:have all stepped out in a leadership role in the
Kimberly Beer:photography industry. And that's a whole nother level of of
Kimberly Beer:expressing our confidence or, you know, being vulnerable and
Kimberly Beer:saying that we have a lack thereof, but it is it's true.
Kimberly Beer:And I think it's it's that same sentiment flows in both
Kimberly Beer:directions. What do you think, Phyllis?
Phyllis Burchett:Oh, I agree. I think it's nice for up and
Phyllis Burchett:comers or for beginners or even advanced photographers to know
Phyllis Burchett:that, that however they're feeling we all have felt the
Phyllis Burchett:same way at one point or another and still feel that same way
Phyllis Burchett:every day. So it's not uncommon and then you're not you are not
Phyllis Burchett:alone.
Cara Taylor Swift:And I think there's something to be said for
Cara Taylor Swift:putting yourself into positions where you aren't always
Cara Taylor Swift:comfortable. And by that I don't mean like your gear fails. But
Cara Taylor Swift:and you and you aren't able to fulfill, but that if you are
Cara Taylor Swift:uncomfortable, it might mean that you're pushing yourself and
Cara Taylor Swift:you're teaching yourself more, and you're putting yourself out
Cara Taylor Swift:there and you're taking risks. And you're, you're being
Cara Taylor Swift:creative in ways that maybe you've never been creative
Cara Taylor Swift:before. And that's not a bad thing. And you're always going
Cara Taylor Swift:to be moving the bar higher and higher in terms of your
Cara Taylor Swift:confidence.
Kimberly Beer:Absolutely, and also competence. Another thing
Kimberly Beer:that I want to say about it is a lot of times confidence comes
Kimberly Beer:from things that aren't associated with your
Kimberly Beer:photography, for example, you may have a limiting belief about
Kimberly Beer:yourself, or you may have something that someone else has
Kimberly Beer:placed on you. And they're I want to say an interject, which
Kimberly Beer:is a gestalt word for something we took and swallowed whole,
Kimberly Beer:someone may have told you at some point in time in your life,
Kimberly Beer:that you you, you weren't a value or that your work wasn't
Kimberly Beer:good. And you may have taken that as, as something that you
Kimberly Beer:just believe, without any further evidence, and that can
Kimberly Beer:really rattle your competence. So it's not always just in our
Kimberly Beer:shooting. It's also in in those things that we picked up along
Kimberly Beer:life, it's in the trauma, it's and PTSD, it's in how our
Kimberly Beer:relationships have unfolded. There's a complicated equation,
Kimberly Beer:to understanding the level of competence you have in anything
Kimberly Beer:and photography in particular.
Phyllis Burchett:Those are all great points cam, I'd kind of
Phyllis Burchett:like to share a few things that might help with building
Phyllis Burchett:confidence or self esteem in your personal life, which
Phyllis Burchett:therefore will lead to your photography, career or life
Phyllis Burchett:also, I think one thing for me too, is to look back on your
Phyllis Burchett:past achievements, it doesn't matter how small they are just
Phyllis Burchett:anything that you can call a win look back on those times in your
Phyllis Burchett:life when you had those either little wins or big wins that
Phyllis Burchett:made you feel good. For me personally, I think cam kind of
Phyllis Burchett:helped me with this one is Is she did hook me up with a
Phyllis Burchett:gestalt coach and I think finding a way to change the
Phyllis Burchett:negative story that your inner critic is telling you is a big
Phyllis Burchett:help. And whether that be with a gestalt therapy, you know,
Phyllis Burchett:session or a therapist, or even a friend that maybe you can talk
Phyllis Burchett:to you about things, I think, you know, just changing that
Phyllis Burchett:negative story that's inside of you, like change that somehow.
Phyllis Burchett:Did I say that right? Kim I mean, you can do that one
Phyllis Burchett:better. I probably said it. And I think another one too is it in
Phyllis Burchett:this was a big one that helped me is becoming a mentor for
Phyllis Burchett:other photographers, you may think that well, maybe I don't
Phyllis Burchett:have that level of experience yet. But it doesn't matter. Even
Phyllis Burchett:if you're a beginner photographer, you can take
Phyllis Burchett:someone that's let's that's coming along with you and help
Phyllis Burchett:them and you'll by doing this you'll realize how much value
Phyllis Burchett:that you can bring to the table just by helping someone and
Phyllis Burchett:whether that be photography or another aspect in your life
Phyllis Burchett:it'll really help your confidence. This is this one for
Phyllis Burchett:a while and I know you too will probably not agree with this was
Phyllis Burchett:really hard for me. But don't shy away from compliments when
Phyllis Burchett:somebody tells you you're famous Phyllis, take it take it and say
Phyllis Burchett:yes I am.
Phyllis Burchett:She's fine yeah, that's still a hard one for me. So I really
Phyllis Burchett:don't want to do that. But anyway, I think I think kind of
Phyllis Burchett:I say fake it but I don't mean really fake it. But you know, if
Phyllis Burchett:you're just a starting professional photographer,
Phyllis Burchett:dress, the par watch your body language, use a lot of eye
Phyllis Burchett:contact, when you talk to people smile, stand up straight, all of
Phyllis Burchett:these are good or good confidence or they make you
Phyllis Burchett:appear more confident. And by appearing more confident you
Phyllis Burchett:will be more confident so and another thing for me too is to
Phyllis Burchett:focus on what you do know if you're trying to to if you're in
Phyllis Burchett:a group setting where you're having to do some public
Phyllis Burchett:speaking or just talk to other people focus on what you do know
Phyllis Burchett:another big one for me especially the over the past two
Phyllis Burchett:years and just trying to get in a more healthy mindset was take
Phyllis Burchett:care of yourself when you when you eat healthy and exercise
Phyllis Burchett:regular and get enough sleep and you feel better than all of this
Phyllis Burchett:is a great confidence booster and and that was a really big
Phyllis Burchett:one. For me personally, I think being grateful focus on being
Phyllis Burchett:grateful maybe even keep a gratitude journal if you can.
Phyllis Burchett:I'm not very good at journaling. But I know I have a couple of
Phyllis Burchett:friends that are really good at journaling and one of the first
Phyllis Burchett:thing they do every day is spend five minutes just telling what
Phyllis Burchett:they're grateful for and writing down some gratitude things.
Phyllis Burchett:Number one is to be like if you're having to go do if you
Phyllis Burchett:are having to go do a job or something and it may be it may
Phyllis Burchett:be something out of your wheelhouse a little bit be
Phyllis Burchett:prepared even if It's something that's in your wheelhouse being
Phyllis Burchett:prepared by practicing, reading, doing a lot of research and get
Phyllis Burchett:ready for whatever it is that's coming up in your life. Also,
Phyllis Burchett:think about visualizing your goals and choosing a positive
Phyllis Burchett:mindset, like, look at what you want to accomplish. And
Phyllis Burchett:visualize that in your mindset so that you can be, you know,
Phyllis Burchett:kind of positive that it's gonna happen one day, I think when you
Phyllis Burchett:visualize things they do happen. So that's it for me guys. How
Phyllis Burchett:about Cara, what are you? What are some good ones for you?
Cara Taylor Swift:Well, like I said, at the, you know, the top
Cara Taylor Swift:of this show is that I feel like confidence, there's just like a
Cara Taylor Swift:killer around the corner of it anytime. And I'm very sensitive
Cara Taylor Swift:to when things don't go well. Or if I feel like I failed in some
Cara Taylor Swift:way that affects me, to my core, and it can be I can have 100
Cara Taylor Swift:people saying you did a good job. And then one person tell me
Cara Taylor Swift:that they thought the image was crap, or that the way that
Cara Taylor Swift:something went down wasn't good. And I will only focus on that
Cara Taylor Swift:one thing. So for me, you know, working on my confidence is a
Cara Taylor Swift:daily struggle. And it can constantly feel like it's a
Cara Taylor Swift:shifting set of standards in my brain. So one of the several of
Cara Taylor Swift:the things that I do are kind of focused around preparation, I
Cara Taylor Swift:feel like if I can think through the the process, which is part
Cara Taylor Swift:of the reason like why I work with clients, the way that I do,
Cara Taylor Swift:like I from start to finish, I need to visualize how every step
Cara Taylor Swift:of that process is going to go. And I don't like to get to a
Cara Taylor Swift:shoot and not know what our game plan is, I just don't operate
Cara Taylor Swift:that way. So for me, being able to really think through and
Cara Taylor Swift:practice using my gear, if I have new equipment, I want to
Cara Taylor Swift:use it, I'd never use photoshoots, especially
Cara Taylor Swift:photoshoots, I'm being paid for to test out gear, I always
Cara Taylor Swift:practice I always set up something specific for learning
Cara Taylor Swift:new gear, poses new techniques, I'd love to practice those
Cara Taylor Swift:before I use them in a paid situation. That's that's big for
Cara Taylor Swift:me and shooting all the time, especially in the beginning, I
Cara Taylor Swift:needed to be shooting and using my camera every day, what
Cara Taylor Swift:happens to me now is that I go through periods where I might
Cara Taylor Swift:not be actively shooting, you know, two or three times a week.
Cara Taylor Swift:So I have to make myself go out and take photographs. Because
Cara Taylor Swift:what will happen is I get rusty, not resting necessarily on like
Cara Taylor Swift:the muscle memory of using a camera. But things like posing
Cara Taylor Swift:people like pose flow, if I don't have that in my brain and
Cara Taylor Swift:something that that that post flow muscle, if I'm not actively
Cara Taylor Swift:working that I can definitely be so much less confident when I've
Cara Taylor Swift:got clients in front of me if it doesn't feel like it's flowing
Cara Taylor Swift:easily. And so having that kind of set post flow situation in my
Cara Taylor Swift:brain, because I practice it helps me so much. So yeah, so I
Cara Taylor Swift:like to say I'm most confident when I'm prepared. When I've
Cara Taylor Swift:thought through at all, when I plan for any type of pitfall
Cara Taylor Swift:that can happen, people, there have been people that tell me I
Cara Taylor Swift:worry too much. But the truth is, is if I can't think through
Cara Taylor Swift:every possible bad situation that can happen, then I'm going
Cara Taylor Swift:to be anxious about it. So sorry, one of us has to be the
Cara Taylor Swift:worrier of the group. And it's me. So the other piece of that
Cara Taylor Swift:is model calls, I love to do model calls when I'm testing out
Cara Taylor Swift:something really different. If I'm using new gear, or I want to
Cara Taylor Swift:try a new lighting situation, or new props that I've never used
Cara Taylor Swift:before a model call is an awesome place for that. And it
Cara Taylor Swift:really gives me confidence because first of all, I'm I'm
Cara Taylor Swift:shooting in a way that I'm not having to necessarily create
Cara Taylor Swift:something that's going to affect my bottom line right in that
Cara Taylor Swift:moment. And then when I the next shoot that I have or where I
Cara Taylor Swift:plan to use that I can go into it with so much more confidence
Cara Taylor Swift:because I know how to make that situation work. And there are
Cara Taylor Swift:some things that I think a lot of photographers get hung up on
Cara Taylor Swift:in terms of, especially if they're maybe enthusiastic
Cara Taylor Swift:amateur photographers, or they're new to starting their
Cara Taylor Swift:business. I don't know about you guys, but I've had photographers
Cara Taylor Swift:that I've been mentoring tell me that they don't know even how to
Cara Taylor Swift:talk about like confidently about their, their business or
Cara Taylor Swift:about what they do. Maybe photography is a hobby, maybe
Cara Taylor Swift:it's something they do part time. Maybe it's something
Cara Taylor Swift:they're hoping to move from a full time gig into a photography
Cara Taylor Swift:business one day, and people will ask them, they might be
Cara Taylor Swift:shooting on the rail at a horror show. They'll ask them, you
Cara Taylor Swift:know, tell me what you do, or are you a photographer, and they
Cara Taylor Swift:don't know how to answer that question off the top of their
Cara Taylor Swift:head. They don't know how to say yeah, I'm a photographer. I'm a
Cara Taylor Swift:horse photography. I'm an equine photographer. They don't know
Cara Taylor Swift:how to answer that. And they tend to say things like, oh,
Cara Taylor Swift:yeah, I take pictures and they're just really they really
Cara Taylor Swift:don't come across as confident. So I tell people think about how
Cara Taylor Swift:you talk about your business. Think about how you talk about
Cara Taylor Swift:what you do as an artist. and be prepared to answer that question
Cara Taylor Swift:when people ask you have that elevator pitch or that one liner
Cara Taylor Swift:that describes what you do, and that you are comfortable saying
Cara Taylor Swift:it out loud. One of the things I always say to people is,
Cara Taylor Swift:especially if you sell if you're if you are selling photography,
Cara Taylor Swift:or you're selling to your clients, art images, be
Cara Taylor Swift:comfortable with the words that come out of your mouth. And the
Cara Taylor Swift:only way I can be confident in that is by saying them out loud,
Cara Taylor Swift:before I actually have to say them out loud, or say them over
Cara Taylor Swift:and over again, and practice how they come out of my mouth. So it
Cara Taylor Swift:doesn't feel awkward. And so I'm not insecure about about that.
Cara Taylor Swift:Yeah, so the other thing around just in terms of if you're
Cara Taylor Swift:thinking about not just shooting, but if you want to
Cara Taylor Swift:work with clients, or if you are selling photography, practice
Cara Taylor Swift:things like answering common questions that come up over and
Cara Taylor Swift:over again, know how you want to respond to that, and practice
Cara Taylor Swift:getting those words out of your mouth, practice responding to
Cara Taylor Swift:common sales objections, and, you know, practice asking
Cara Taylor Swift:questions that you would ask to prospective clients to get more
Cara Taylor Swift:information from them. That's a big thing. People are just
Cara Taylor Swift:nervous, having conversations with people, sometimes that can
Cara Taylor Swift:be a real competence killer. The last thing I'll say here, and
Cara Taylor Swift:that's something that I feel has brought me the most success not
Cara Taylor Swift:in photography, necessarily. But just as a woman in business
Cara Taylor Swift:throughout my entire adult life, is surround yourself with people
Cara Taylor Swift:who support you find those people who believe in you, and
Cara Taylor Swift:they believe in what you do and what you represent. And find
Cara Taylor Swift:people who you can share ideas and resources with, I like to
Cara Taylor Swift:say that when I go into a situation, especially a learning
Cara Taylor Swift:environment, I try to find the people that look like they have
Cara Taylor Swift:their shit together that know what they're doing the maybe the
Cara Taylor Swift:who I think look like the smart ones in the room, and I will go
Cara Taylor Swift:and sit my butt right down right next to them. And I will tell
Cara Taylor Swift:you, that is how I became friends with Kevin Phyllis, I
Cara Taylor Swift:sat down next to them and never got up and drug them, you know,
Cara Taylor Swift:made them drag me along with them when they went places and
Cara Taylor Swift:not saying you should do that you shouldn't harass somebody?
Phyllis Burchett:Well, I don't know, I think that's what you
Phyllis Burchett:get when you join cowgirls with cameras as, as a community.
Phyllis Burchett:That's what we like, we
Cara Taylor Swift:have that capacity. Yeah. And so that you
Cara Taylor Swift:can, you know, really, you know, you need those people in your
Cara Taylor Swift:life who can give you a dose of healthy reality when you need
Cara Taylor Swift:it. But you also need to think about the people that are
Cara Taylor Swift:building you up. And that have been in your shoes before and
Cara Taylor Swift:being your those people. And you know, I love my family, I love I
Cara Taylor Swift:have friends that I love. But I also have people that I don't
Cara Taylor Swift:spend as much time with because they are people that maybe don't
Cara Taylor Swift:believe in the work that I do, or don't believe that
Cara Taylor Swift:photography, and specifically the niche of Equine photography
Cara Taylor Swift:is a sustainable industry. And I need to separate myself to some
Cara Taylor Swift:extent from those people that are bringing me down, I need
Cara Taylor Swift:people who support me and believe in me, in my life more
Cara Taylor Swift:than I need those other negative influences. And I know there are
Cara Taylor Swift:people that are listening to this right now that probably
Cara Taylor Swift:have significant others that are in relationships, I have family
Cara Taylor Swift:members that maybe don't believe that their little photography
Cara Taylor Swift:business is ever going to make anything, or that this hobby
Cara Taylor Swift:that they love. So much is worth investing so much time and
Cara Taylor Swift:energy and money into. But I think that I mean, we all have
Cara Taylor Swift:those people, we've all had those people. So try to figure
Cara Taylor Swift:out, you know, look for those shining stars in your life that
Cara Taylor Swift:are going to build you up and make you happy and bring you
Cara Taylor Swift:competence instead. I'll get off my soapbox.
Phyllis Burchett:No, I I agree with all that. I think we all
Phyllis Burchett:agree with that.
Kimberly Beer:Yeah, and I think Phyllis made a really good point
Kimberly Beer:in saying that that's what we strive to do in our photography
Kimberly Beer:experiences when you come to those is we want to offer you a
Kimberly Beer:safe environment, and one that is supportive so that you can
Kimberly Beer:stretch your wings out a little bit and fly. And so you'll have
Kimberly Beer:somebody there to answer those questions for you. Or to help
Kimberly Beer:you figure out what went wrong or help you figure out what went
Kimberly Beer:right in his situation and do so in a way that's not judgmental
Kimberly Beer:or harsh. And that really is supportive because honestly,
Kimberly Beer:photography and horsemanship I think both offer two things in
Kimberly Beer:that there are life long learning opportunities. You will
Kimberly Beer:never learn it all about photography and you're never
Kimberly Beer:going to learn it all about horses or the western lifestyle.
Kimberly Beer:But being able to have people along on the ride that are there
Kimberly Beer:to help you and support you through as much learning as you
Kimberly Beer:can get and then help you build your confidence is absolutely
Kimberly Beer:key and I believe hurdle We that for all three of us. That is one
Kimberly Beer:of the things that we want to make sure that we offer from
Kimberly Beer:ourselves in our in our events and our experiences. And also
Kimberly Beer:that we foster a community that offers that on going when it's
Kimberly Beer:not the three of us in the room, but people who have been to our
Kimberly Beer:events, or had something to do with cowgirls with cameras. I
Kimberly Beer:think that is all very critical. And thank you, Phyllis, for
Kimberly Beer:pointing that out and bringing it up. And in that context, I do
Kimberly Beer:have one thing I want to add to this long list of ways that that
Kimberly Beer:we've come up with in this episode of having people build
Kimberly Beer:confidence. I think Phyllis gave you some great advice for life.
Kimberly Beer:And I think Cara gave you some great advice as a photographer,
Kimberly Beer:the one thing I would like to add to this is in building your
Kimberly Beer:confidence, try to look at how you hold on to mistakes or
Kimberly Beer:failure because in general, we can kind of start out as
Kimberly Beer:confidence have a few wins. And then something is going to come
Kimberly Beer:along, whether it's a camera failure, a card failure, or just
Kimberly Beer:an oversight, or something that didn't go quite right in a
Kimberly Beer:situation are not like planned, no matter how much you rehearse
Kimberly Beer:or practice, there are going to be times that you experience
Kimberly Beer:failures or mistakes as a photographer or just a human
Kimberly Beer:walking through life. And one of the things that I think is
Kimberly Beer:seriously helped my confidence as a human being and as a
Kimberly Beer:photographer, is mindfully learning how to hold those
Kimberly Beer:mistakes. And failures as failures are not failures. But
Kimberly Beer:failures are learning experiences that teach me a way
Kimberly Beer:to do it better. And mistakes also offer me an opportunity.
Kimberly Beer:And I'm not going to hang on to the mistake long term. I get it,
Kimberly Beer:I realize it, I process it, I integrate it, and then I let it
Kimberly Beer:go. And I think that that is one of the things that you have to
Kimberly Beer:practice and building your competence. Because if you hold
Kimberly Beer:on to a mistake, or a perceived failure, and I do say perceived
Kimberly Beer:intentionally there, if you hold on to a perceived failure, long
Kimberly Beer:term, it can cause a lot of other things to start to go
Kimberly Beer:wrong in your in your competence building. So please ask
Kimberly Beer:yourself, you know, are you holding on to things that maybe
Kimberly Beer:were mistakes you made or things you didn't know, a year ago, or
Kimberly Beer:six months ago or heck, even two hours ago, and now you have a
Kimberly Beer:better vision and can just let go of that and not not get held
Kimberly Beer:on to it long term. So that's a big feature, I think in building
Kimberly Beer:your competence is not to hold on to those things as you
Kimberly Beer:progress.
Cara Taylor Swift:That's such a good point. I think it's really
Cara Taylor Swift:easy to get hung up and derailed. You know, you let
Cara Taylor Swift:those things pull you down.
Phyllis Burchett:Right. And it's hard not to dwell on some
Phyllis Burchett:things. And I think it's hard to get out of that mount mindset
Phyllis Burchett:sometimes. For sure.
Kimberly Beer:It is and that's where the Gestalt just comes in
Kimberly Beer:handy. Like like Phyllis is experienced. It's, it's where
Kimberly Beer:someone can help you sometimes guide you to see things clearer
Kimberly Beer:than you would be able to see on your own. That's my my 10 cents
Kimberly Beer:for tonight.
Cara Taylor Swift:All right, well, I have a feeling that
Cara Taylor Swift:there's other folks out there right now that have listened to
Cara Taylor Swift:this episode and maybe feel a you know, feeling a little bit
Cara Taylor Swift:not triggered but like yeah, I felt a little bit of what
Cara Taylor Swift:Phyllis was saying, you know, or I felt a little bit about what
Cara Taylor Swift:Kim was saying there. I really resonated with that. Or maybe
Cara Taylor Swift:they're worrywarts like me, who knows? But if you are, and you
Cara Taylor Swift:enjoyed this episode, please let us know we're on Instagram at
Cara Taylor Swift:Calrose with cameras and on Facebook calculus with cameras.
Cara Taylor Swift:Also we have a photo challenge. So what we would love for you
Cara Taylor Swift:guys to do for the cowgirls with cameras photo challenge, using
Cara Taylor Swift:#CWCphotochallenge, share an image that you created that you
Cara Taylor Swift:feel pushed your skill level, or boosted your confidence in some
Cara Taylor Swift:way. We want to see it and if you we'd love if you tagged us
Cara Taylor Swift:and then use #CWCphotochallenge and we'd love to share share
Cara Taylor Swift:that image for you. We'd love to hear your story about you know
Cara Taylor Swift:why Why was this a push for you? Why did this image boost your
Cara Taylor Swift:confidence? Let us know. It's also good content to put out
Cara Taylor Swift:there. So it's a there's an easy one for you when you're posting
Cara Taylor Swift:I need to think about what mine is going to be. So if you are
Cara Taylor Swift:thinking man, this sounds like fun. I want to join Kim, Phyllis
Cara Taylor Swift:and Cara at one of their upcoming events. We have some
Cara Taylor Swift:really fun stuff coming up. Several of the events are
Cara Taylor Swift:already full but we have the cottonwood ranch experience
Cara Taylor Swift:coming up in Nevada. We have opening still for those of you
Cara Taylor Swift:that are real beginners out there that wanted to jump into
Cara Taylor Swift:equine photography and want to really learn how to use your
Cara Taylor Swift:cameras and how to photograph people with horses. That's an
Cara Taylor Swift:event we have coming up in St. Augustine, Florida, the spring.
Cara Taylor Swift:We've got events really cool experience coming up in
Cara Taylor Swift:Colorado. I believe our dry head event is full. Is that correct?
Cara Taylor Swift:Is it full now? Yet Phyllis is having her head. Yep. It's full.
Cara Taylor Swift:Art of the cowgirl is currently full. Is that correct? We have a
Cara Taylor Swift:waiting list for that only Yeah, I believe well,
Phyllis Burchett:the Jan Queen Creek Arizona or the Calgary is
Phyllis Burchett:full. They don't have the summer gathering. They don't have it
Phyllis Burchett:listed yet. But it'll be the first of June and Montana for
Phyllis Burchett:those that are interested. Okay. We don't have any details. Yeah,
Cara Taylor Swift:they're okay. Horses on the beach. And Iceland
Cara Taylor Swift:are currently full. And then go ahead, Phyllis.
Phyllis Burchett:Though wilderness event in Colorado the
Phyllis Burchett:end of September. That will be that will be a really fun one.
Phyllis Burchett:So
Cara Taylor Swift:the wilderness adventure. Yes,
Cara Taylor Swift:that's going to be amazing at trappers lake. So, Lake Lodge so
Cara Taylor Swift:there are so many cool things that you guys can come and hang
Cara Taylor Swift:and learn and take cool pictures and we'd love to hang with you
Cara Taylor Swift:guys. So check us out at calibers with cameras.com. Click
Cara Taylor Swift:the Events tab and see which one you think fits you the best we'd
Cara Taylor Swift:love to chat with you about our about options, so reach out
Cara Taylor Swift:anytime. Thanks for joining us today.
Jaz:Thanks for listening to this episode of cowgirls with
Jaz:cameras. Don't let the laughter and learning stop here. Join our
Jaz:community on social media. And be sure to visit our website for
Jaz:more opportunities to fulfill your photography goals head to
Jaz:cowgirlswithcameras.com That's cowgirlswithcameras.com See you