My Photography 10 Commandments

"Comparison is the thief of all joy."

Theodore Roosevelt

1. I will not compare myself with others. 

I often compare and it doesn’t help my work or how I think about my work. It doesn’t help me be constructive or help me improve.

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

Stephen Hawking

2. I will not pay attention to how many people are paying attention to my work. 

I don’t want to pay attention to this because then it stops being about what I’m doing to learn and grow and what I’m making. 

To create something you must be something.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

3. I will not make photos just to get likes.

I don’t just want to create or post photos or blogs that will get the most attention. I want create things that are fun and/or meaningful. It doesn’t be I won’t do something that is trending but I will only do it because it follows either being fun to me or it is meaningful to me. 

People need hope and inspiration desperately. But hope and inspiration are only sustained by work.

Tarana Burke

4. I will look at others work for inspiration. 

I will seek out others work to inspire me. I will not limit where I find inspiration from and how I will express that inspiration.

A man of courage is also full of faith.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

5. I will not loose faith in myself.

I will believe that my work is important and needed in the world even though it’s not seen by a big audience. 

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Mahatma Gandi

6. I will never stop learning. 

I will continue to learn about my craft and about things that have nothing to do with photography. 

There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.

Michelangelo

7. I will do no harm.

I will not harm the people, places, or thinks I’m photographing. 

Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it.

Bernard Meltzer

8. I will share 

I will continue to share the work on social media, my blog, and the people in my life. I will share it to spread joy and learning to others.

If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.

Oscar Wilde

9. I will have wait for the shot. 

I at times get impatient and leave before the shot I’m thinking of or just waiting to see what happens, or giving myself time to think of another way to photography what I’m seeing. 

I'm committed to the purity of my art form.

Savion Glover

10. I will not be a purist

I will not hold myself or others to a certain way to get a shot. I will learn what works in certain situations what will work best to get the work I want and will be proud of.