MOVING FORWARD IN 2021: A PHOTOGRAPHER'S PLAN

JUMP ON IN… AND GET READY TO SWIM LIKE NEVER BEFORE

No more time to tread water, you have to make distance. Jump in and begin to push forward and know before you jump that the water has more resistance than it did before. That it may feel as though you are swimming uphill. It will at times exhaust you.

It will at times exhilarate you beyond expectation.

This is the first post of 2021, and I don’t want to do a wrap-up post. I think they are boring this year.

I did this blah blah, and then I read blah blah blah, but thank god for blah blah because I was finally able to blah blah…

Look. It sucked.
For creative people it just sucked.
For small businesses it just sucked.
For independent businesses it just sucked.
For entrepreneurs it just sucked.

For big already flush with cash businesses it rocked the fuck out of rock!!!

But I am not a big business person and I suppose you are not as well.

So – it just… well, you know… sucked.

PREDICTIONS FOR 2021

You gotta be out of your mind to even think I am going to attempt that bit of blurry think calamity. Imagine all of the “Predictions” that were made just a year ago.

Who predicted, “Worldwide pandemic that will toast 35% of small and single owner businesses by June”?

That person is the only one I want to be getting predictions from, but I have a feeling they are a loner with a lot of cats.

But if you are just dying for a prediction, here’s one you can take to the bank.

2021 will not be anything like 2020.

You’re welcome.

Take that grain of truth and see what you can make of it. I have no idea if 2021 is calmly whispering “settle down, guys, I got your back”, or leaning against a chopper saying “yeah… hold my beer”.

Anyone who tells you different is either lying to your or trying to sell you something.

There are people watching that can get a bit of insight on the macro. James Altucher discussing the self-imposed destruction of NYC small business comes to mind. And watching CA double down on the very regulations that are driving out billions in tax revenue is breathtaking to behold, but again… macro.

If you have come to the mountain of Don looking for answers I only have a few that may or may not meet the mark. Well, there is always this bit of great information: never get involved in a land war in Asia. 

Other than that, I am going to advise you put your big ol smile on like a celebrity grabbing an award and get on the stick, go for it, keep on keeping on, just do it… all that!

Wanna know where we are going, look back to see where we came from?

THE “DECADE OF ACCELERATION YEAR” THEORY.

It goes like this: Anything that was slowly dying, died quicker by a decade last year.

Malls. Malls have been dying a long and terrible death for at least 10 years. They may have had a decade left, but they did that decade of decline in 2020. The biggest, most luxurious mall nearest me is a ghost town with 50% of the stores empty.

Theaters: Attendance had been declining for a decade at least. They created more theaters, added luxury seating, ran special showings… sparing themselves for a while from the sharp blade of disinterested consumers.

Covid wiped them out. Netflix, Prime, Hulu simply walked in, washed the blood off the floor, and took up the slack with the added convenience of staying home and- you know – safe.

Ad Agencies: Once the gatekeepers between brands and artists, they have been watching the internet slowly remove the gate piece by piece. Then Covid came along and brands found they could get the artists directly, they could utilize the vast amount of talent without the need for an ad agency. Digital agencies grew, traditional agencies… well… not so much. The gate is not so formidable now and it is being challenged every day.

Not that brands find it sort of wasteful to spend a bazillion dollars on a 30 second TV ad that no one watches. Like ever. But agencies, god love ’em, haven’t figured the whole consumer attention thing yet. They are trying but they are too fat, too slow, and too bound by convention.

And into the gap walks the photographer, the director, the writer, the art director, the content manager, the brand specialist… and in some cases it is the same person.

2020 was the end of “I click buttons and take pictures” photographers. Done. Gone. Hasta La Vista, Baby.

The market had been trending that way since the advent of DSLR’s with video, but the “Decline Decade” of 2020 finished it.

There are some who think this has not happened or will take longer to happen than I think it will.

Yeah, and no one wants to buy stuff on the internets either… gotcha.

You see, the reverse side of the “Decade of Acceleration Year” theory is that anything that was trending up just accelerated ten years within one.

Like online stores. Like upstart brands. Like the rise of the artistpreneur or whatever you want to call us these days.

Watching photographers get bids involving art direction, building e-commerce solutions, providing brand strength, and developing long-term (a year) campaigns one gets the feeling that things are changing.

FAST.

I think it can be a little intimidating how fast.

So here is my 10 things to do moving forward:

Read more.
Whether fiction or non-fiction, read more to ingest more. Read more to have more ideas. Read for fun, read for knowledge, read for necessity. I love Audible so I can listen as I do other things like walking and exercising. Books are ideas in RAW format.

Take care of yourself.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that people with good health have had a different experience with this virus than those who were quite ill. The stats bear it out and they are chilling. Lose the extra pounds, move, and take care of yourself as if your life depends on it. Cause… well.

Take more time for yourself.
Yeah, brilliant advice to people who have been locked down for 10 months. But really, have any of us really spent time on ourselves. From ‘doomscrolling’ to gut-wrenching fear for our lives if we dare to take the fkn dog for a walk, that is not self-care in any universe. Stop with the social media hate, up with the real world engaging

Make more art.
This is a content-driven economy. Making art is what we do. In fact, I know many non-professional artists who make 10 times the art of some professionals I know. And that is our job. Make. More. Art. Make it when you are excited to, make it when the muse is on vacation, make it when you don’t quite ‘feel like it’. Be aware, there are those that will be working while you are binge-watching “The Queen’s Gambit”. (Which was quite good, BTW.)

Write to someone new every day.
An old friend, an acquaintance you knew from a year ago. Perhaps a client that you haven’t seen. Tell them what you are up to, and ask what they are up to as well. Friends, business acquaintances, family… anyone you have not spoken to in the last 12 months. Go on now, get on this today. Maybe pick up some nice notecards or make them yourself… see above.

Start your Daily Practice.
Conceived by James Altucher, the ‘daily practice’ involves coming up with 10 ideas every day. They don’t have to be good ideas, they have to be your ideas.

10 ways to make supermarkets more efficient
10 ideas on how to save money
10 ways mirrorless cameras could be improved
10 ideas for a portrait of George Clooney

Whatever. Just coming up with the ideas is the exercise your brain needs. Remember, in order to run in a marathon, you must have spent a long, long time running period.

Make things with your art.
Make a book. Make a website devoted to poetry and imagery. Make a set of greeting cards. Make a book for your grandkids, or your daughter, or your spouse/partner. Make a cookbook of memories. Make images for your walls, or for a private scrapbook to view when you reach 92. Make. Just make.

When you find someone you admire, let them know.
Send an email, or mention them in a post they will see. Letting them know how you feel can be of great significance to them. Imagine having a rough day and opening an email from a fan just letting you know how important you are to them. Feels good, right? Well, you are the fan that can make that happen to someone who may need a little joy that day. And it can make you feel like a million bucks when you do it.

Try something new whenever you can.
If you have never painted, paint. If you have never written, write. If you have never created a line of poetry, begin tomorrow. You do not have to be good at anything to reap amazing rewards from it. I suck at the piano, but it often calms me when I get a chance to play. Recently I purchased an electric piano so I could play late at night and not disturb anyone (or create thoughts of homicide in spouses). I don’t play to become a great pianist, I play because it is something I love to do.

Be kind to everyone. Especially yourself.
We live in such a callous state of affairs. You should read the Youtube comments on some of the videos I make. You would think I had written something spectacularly evil, but in fact, it was rather mundane. I usually just remove them because it is the kindest thing to do. I do not argue, or make scathing rebuttals. I just take them down because it must suck to be that disturbed and hopefully they will get better someday and not be confronted by their abject and utter asshattedness.

I try to be kind to people where ever I encounter them. Whether they are kind in return is of no interest to me. I am doing it as a safety switch for me. If it helps them, great. If not, and they continue on their day full of hate and vitriol, I know I was not a part of their problem. I just keep smiling and waving,

Kindness, courtesy, respect… the whole day goes better when you give irrespective of what you get.

And be kind to yourself as well. These have been very tough times this past year, and in many ways, they do not seem to be abating for anytime soon. We need kindness as well, and we can shut the negative self-talk down and be kinder to ourselves if we just try.

Life always has other plans as we have been all too aware of this past year.

And if it keeps on keeping on, so shall we.

Resilience is our best weapon.

See you next time.

(Photo by Bradley Dunn on Unsplash)