Confidence & Customer Feedback

For me my photography work is a very delicately balanced system of one; continuously thinking everything I do is crap and I can do better, and two; giving customers their final images and being completely overwhelmed at their feedback.

There is only an in between for maybe three seconds when I find a good shot and I silently think "Hell yes, I am a really good photographer". It's something I've always struggled with even since doing photography at college. Then it was more about comparing my work to other peoples, because ultimately in an educational environment you unintentionally think you're competing with everybody else.

Now that I'm at a point where I'm confident enough to put myself out there and actually charge somebody for something that I actually love to do, it comes with it's own set of nerves. Like a nice package of brand new doubts delivered to your door just when you think everything's going well.

There's a whole new world of responsibility that's on your shoulders. Take my first ever wedding for example. Looking back now I'm so proud of the photos I produced considering we weren't blessed with beautiful weather, but my anxiety was so high on the day because all I could think was that these photos were potentially going to be in this families albums for years to come.

I am a worrier but this also means I'm a planner, so I researched till there was nothing left to read and made sure I was 100% prepared for the day. Full batteries, empty memory cards and my other half as a spare pair of hands. As much as I hate the phrase "Fail to prepare, Prepare to fail " It's something I live my life by. Especially with photography and something as important as a wedding. You can't redo a wedding, there is no backup option. Ultimately you're capturing family memories and that isn't something you can wing.

When it came to post production, I took my time and tried to curate a collection of images that told a story of the day and the feedback I received was the biggest confidence boost I needed. With every shoot, there's always a voice in your head saying "what if they don't like them?" or even worse "what if they pretend to like them but don't have the heart to say they're disappointed"....my ability to overthink never ceases to amaze me. So when you eventually get that confirmation, it means the world.

Please if you're ever shy about giving feedback, don't be. Good or bad, it's one of the most valuable tools we all have. It helps me improve what I do and it helps level out the inevitable doubt that creeps in every now and again.