Take a Shot

I decided to enter ten photographs in the Los Angeles Center of Photography's 3rd Annual Street Shooting Around the World Exhibition competition. The opening night reception is February 3, 2017 and the exhibition will run from February 3 - March 10, 2017. All ten photographs are built around a common theme and serve as a small body of work. I would encourage everyone reading this blog post to step out of your comfort zone and do something you wouldn't ordinarily do. We have one life on this earth and I think it's all too common to talk ourselves out of doing things we dream of doing. I really do believe that so much emphasis has been put on winning in our culture, that many people fail to try anything because they can't stomach the thought of not "winning" -- as if not winning makes them a "loser". Not true.

Consider me being in the LA Center of Photography's competition as an example. There will likely be thousands of entries from around the world by incredibly talented amateur and professional photographers -- it would be easy for me to say to myself "you can't possibly win this competition, so why bother?". But there are two lies associated with that kind of thinking: 1) it isn't impossible that I could win (though maybe not likely); and 2) by simply participating and competing, I have actually had to spend years developing my body of work, I've had to be at the right places at the right times, I've had to learn by studying the work of the great photographers from around the world, I've had to come to understand that all that goes with making a submittal in this competition is what makes me a "winner", and not the final outcome of the competition.

And so, whatever it is that you have dreamed of doing, I encourage you to "take a shot"!