February 4, 2012
I feel like I am being consumed by social media and losing valuable time running my Photography Business. Time is short, and getting caught up on all the ways to promote yourself, keep in touch with every friend and acquaintance you had in High school, College, past business partners, past co-workers etc.. How can you live your life now in the present and create great imagery and focus on what is truly important to you and your photography if you spend all this time with Social Media Consumerism? The more friends you link to, the better you feel. More and more I see people using their cell phones to check in on their lives rather than looking up and seeing the physical world there in front of them and interacting with that rather than a window into cyber space. How many apps you have on your cell phone is becoming the "how big is your lens in your bag?" debate, meaningless. All these things distract you from your purpose, your goal of making great imagery. What this new technology does is allow you to play at photography and not really do it. Photography is something you do after you play with the newest, greatest app on your hi-tech phone.
Time is too short and it gets shorter as you get older, so I will use Social Media to promote my photography but will not allow Social Media to become the purpose of why I take photos. I will find what works for me and gives me the best time to do what I love to do, take photos. I will focus on my strengths and concentrate on a routine using Social Media as a means to and end and not an end in itself. Technology, if not used properly will destroy your energy to create.
