CONFIDENCE IS KING

Confidence might be one of the most important things I’ve developed in street photography.

Besides simply getting out and shooting as much as possible, I think becoming confident in what I’m doing has probably changed my photography more than anything.

Previously, I didn’t really have a purpose with my photography. I enjoyed taking pictures, but I didn’t necessarily know where any of it was going.

Because of that, I sometimes felt uneasy when I was out shooting.

WHY PURPOSE MATTERS

Here’s something that’s happened to me numerous times.

I’ll be standing somewhere taking photographs, sometimes not even photographing a person, and somebody will say something to me or try to start a confrontation. Maybe they think I’m taking their picture. Maybe they just think what I’m doing is weird.

In the past, an interaction like that could completely throw me off.

I’d start questioning what I was doing.

Why am I even doing this hobby if I’m just trying to enjoy my day and now I’m worried about what some random person thinks about me?

But something has changed.

Now I have an objective.

THE MAGAZINE MINDSET

For me, that objective is the magazine.

Having the magazine in mind has completely changed the way I approach photography.

When I’m walking around taking pictures, I’m thinking about how photographs might eventually work on a page or across a two-page spread.

I’ve even noticed myself taking more vertical photographs because I love the way two vertical photographs can work together across a spread.

Suddenly, the photographs aren’t just random pictures sitting in Lightroom.

They’re potentially part of something.

I have a reason for making them.

That has given me a lot more confidence in what I’m doing.

KNOW WHY YOU’RE TAKING THE PHOTOGRAPH

Everybody is going to have their own reason for making photographs.

Right now, the magazine mindset works for me.

Six months from now, maybe my reason will be completely different. Who knows?

But right now I love approaching photography this way because I have a clear goal and a vision for what I want to do with the photographs.

That confidence also changes the way I behave when I’m actually taking a picture.

Maybe I find an interesting scene with a bunch of lines running through it.

I’ll stop.

I’ll stand there.

I’ll work the scene.

Someone walking past might look at me and think, “What the hell is that guy doing? He’s taking photographs of nothing.”

But here’s the thing.

They probably don’t care.

And even if they do, why should I?

STOP WORRYING ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK

When you’re not confident as a photographer, it’s incredibly easy to become self-conscious.

You start imagining what everybody around you thinks you’re doing.

Why is that guy standing there?

Why is he photographing that?

What does he find interesting about that?

But once you become confident in photographing the things YOU find interesting, those questions start to disappear.

You stop caring.

That’s really what confidence has done for me.

I know why I’m out there.

I know what I’m looking for.

I know what I’m trying to make.

And because of that, I’m much less concerned about whether someone else understands what I’m doing.

Confidence isn’t necessarily about becoming fearless.

It’s about having enough belief in what you’re doing that you don’t need everybody else to understand it.

Find a reason to make photographs.

Give yourself a purpose.

Then go out and photograph what you find interesting.

Eventually, you stop worrying so much about everybody else.

And that’s when photography gets a lot more fun.