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Writer's pictureJoe D'Ambra

The Anxiety of Sharing your Work

One of the toughest things about photography, and something people don't talk about often is taking that leap to share your work with others. Photography is subjective, so you can never really know how it will go down. Then picking which photos you want to share can be a daunting task too (I sometimes spend more time on this than editing!). So I wanted to write this, to help you overcome that, and offer some advice when it comes to sharing your work.



As much as I don't want to start off with a negative, I don't think there ever will be a day when you don't have to put a lot of thought, and consideration into which photos you want to share. With that being said, it shows that you care, and that those photos mean something to you. It often helps to put your photos side by side and really cherry pick out of them. There is a lot of software that you can do this in like Lightroom (I usually use the rating system in Lightroom, and if deciding between two, I use the reference/active view pictured below) .



Asking for someones opinion can give you a great amount of insight. Even if they are not into photography, they can still give some valuable feedback. I often ask other people if I can't decide, or sometimes, you can put them anonymously on sites like Imgur, Perhaps with an anonymous type watermark (if you want to protect those images) and see how they do. Then you can make your decision from there.


I have found that over time you will become more selective with shots, and not be so "trigger happy" which does help save time in post production. This is something I have observed in myself and others. You will also learn what people like and what people don't. So have more of an idea of what kind of photos will be more effective.


So basically, what I'm saying is, the best way to overcome this, is just persistently post. Over time like I mentioned, the feedback you get on social media etc, is so valuable to you learning more. I know it's not easy, and you might feel uneasy about posting some images. But overall its better to post than not.


Thats not to say post massive photo albums everyday. It's just too much for most people. It's better to be selective, and post an image or a few daily. Then the feedback is more concise, plus people won't get annoyed at you completely bombing up their feeds! This goes for any platform you want to share your work on.



It's like anything, the hardest part is getting started. Once you have that ball rolling, and you are consistently posting your work. You are bound to find others that are interested in the same/ similar things. Thats one of the best things about social media. A massive part of being a photographer is having the confidence to share your work. You win some, you lose some, just never give up.


I have watched and read many interviews with some of the best photographers to have ever lived. When they are talking about some of their most famous photos, a lot of them say they didn't even think people would really like that one, and thought that people would prefer others they had taken. So you never know. The most important thing is to post consistently and learn from that.



Good luck, and think of the whole thing as an opportunity to learn. Everyone has photos that flop, and you need them to learn valuable lessons. If you would like somewhere to post your photos, and get feedback on them you are more than welcome to join my facebook group here. There are plenty of friendly photographers, all helping each other.


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