FOMO!

Elephant on his way!

A case of FOMO


What is more important, your career or your life? I ask this question because a lot of us get lost in chasing things; Chasing success, chasing money, chasing twitter, chasing Facebook. This morning I sought some solace from a good friend and fellow photographer, Shalom Ormsby (www.shalomormsby.com). I explained that to him that I was starting to feel a little frantic about not keeping up with all the tweets from twitter, and all the writing on the wall (Facebook). “You got FOMO!” he exclaimed, “You have Fear of Missing Out.” And it is true. My obsession with Social Media is starting to adversely affect the quality of my life! And that is what got me thinking about how important it is to put your life in front of your career. I already knew that, but a reminder now and then is necessary.

Don’t get me wrong, I have certainly enjoyed whatever success I have had, and not having to worry about paying my bills rates right up there at the top. But life does fly by all too quickly and it is important to enjoy every minute that you can. Whey young people come to me for advice on their photography careers, among other things, I advise them not to forget to plan their life as well as their career. Where do you want to live?
How do you want to live? What do you want your LIFE to look like five years from now, ten years from now? Build your career on those determinations, not the other way around. There is room for both a rich life and a satisfying career, but life needs to be nurtured as well as your career.

I am a huge proponent of visualizing what you want and then writing it down. There is some magic to that. Making your vision of what you want as real as you can, as detailed as you can make it, will propel you in that direction. I do not know if there is a metaphysical component, or if it is just because the more you want something the more likely you are to take the necessary steps to get it…but the process does work. A lot of experts have written on this subject and my favorite is Brian Tracy. I highly recommend anything Brian has written; give him a Google!

So while you visualize your life, I have to get back to my twitter account. I might be missing something!

Multi-tasking to success

Multi-tasking my way to success

Just finished an article about the creation of my latest concept stock photo. http://www.johnlund.com/Artcl35-conflict.htm I have this theory about one way to be successful in this Internet world as a stock photographer. My idea is to create cool stock images and then to write about them.
As I have mentioned before, the fundamental problem in this new environment of image glut, is getting your work seen. If I take the time and trouble to create a special image then it will behoove me to take the time and trouble to publicize that image. That effort actually will accomplish another objective too; the increasingly important task of branding oneself. By writing about my images I will be increasing their visibility, driving more traffic to my site, and strengthening my own personal brand.

What does it take to be successful in stock photography today? Let’s see, have a ton of good ideas, be a great photographer, know Photoshop like the back of your hand, become an expert at SEO; excel at writing, spend an inordinate amount of time on your website, be a social networking maven, and develop a strong personal brand. OK, so I’ve left a few things out….