The importance of photography communities

Being part of a photography community is a great way to improve your photography, connect with other photographers, and have more fun!
 
 Not everyone has access to a local photography community. So, in this podcast, I'll talk through a few options you have if you live in a more remote location. And I'll make a few suggestions for those of you in larger communities where photography groups might exist.
 
 And, if all else fails, you can always take on photography challenges.
 
 For me, photography is a creative outlet, and having that outlet is a great way to step back from the stresses of everyday life. 
 
 So, whatever you do, commit to it, make it a habit, and hold yourself accountable!
 
 I hope you enjoy it.
 
 Graham 

It's time for another podcast...

Transcript

>> Speaker A: 0:17

Hello again. I thought I'd talk about, communities in photography. So s slightly different to, the kind of subjects I've been covering lately. And the reason for doing that is, obviously I'm very keen on photography and happened for most of my life. And I believe that going beyond just simply creating images, I believe photography, can make a real contribution to positive mental health. And that's something that, if you listen to certainly some of the older podcasts, I be going, I think three years now, actually. No, two or three years m. Yeah, it's something I've spoken about before and it is something that is quite important to me because, I know from personal experience, I know from dealing with other people that we all have times when things can get pretty hard. And, even when they're not that difficult, we're all having to deal with stresses of some sort, or at least most of it. So it's really good to have a place where we can get away and just do something that we really love. And to me, one of the things that really attracts me to photography and has done really since the start, is there's always something new to learn. I've been doing it for a long time now, probably half a century now, I think about it, which is quite a scary thought, or certainly getting there. And the thing is that, even now I'm still learning things. obviously technology has changed a little bit. it was film when I started. I'll point that out. I wasn't using glass plates or anything. but we've gone digital and that has in itself created or changed the discipline of photography, in my opinion, anyway. the way that I think about photographs now is quite different to when I started out, in many ways. So why do I want to talk about communities and mental health? So, as I was saying, one of the things that attracts me to photography is that we can always learn, so we can always be inspired. And I'm certainly inspired by other photographers. I love looking at their work. Some people, I look at their work and it just blows me away. And, that's one of the joys of it. And often what I'll do, if there's something that is relevant to the style of photography I'm doing, I'll see if I can replicate it. I'll look at a photograph and work out how a particular aspect of it was achieved, and then I'll see if I can replicate it and see what difference that makes to my work. So I don't know what is driving your interest in photography. but hopefully, you can resonate with what I'm saying. So one of the important things about community is it's a place to share that passion and m meet with other people who will hopefully, inspire you. You'll get along with and you'll get ideas from them. You'll be able to give them ideas. And in that way, it's not only photography that grows, but we just have that little special network of people that are completely disconnected from what we would do in other aspects of our life. But we can just share that passion with them. So I wanted to talk a little bit about, communities and what the options are for you and where you might find other photographers. And I'm really just talking from my own experience here and I'm sure, you. Well, I'm hoping you'll be able to other options as well. And you're very welcome to comment, send me a message and I might do another version of this, down the track if I get feedback and people have great ideas. And while I'm thinking about that, I'll definitely encourage that because I don't want the podcast just to be me talking to you. It's really nice when people do take the time and trouble to send me a message. So that's really good. So what are your options? Well, first of all, when you live and what your circumstances. So I'm going to start with, how I'm set up. So I live on the age of a small town in rural France. So it isn't like when I was living in Sydney, which is the last place I lived, which was quite a lot of people and there were lots of options here, it's a lot more difficult. So if you are in a situation where you do live a long way from other people or you live in a very small community and there aren't many photographers about or any photographers about that can lead to, difficulties. So in that situation you've got some options. I mean, one is to maybe start a meetup group and I'll talk about meetup in respect to being in a larger community. But you could also, you could always just try it and just put something up locally and see if anybody else is interested in, just starting up small community. It might just be a couple of people, doesn't have to be many people. But if you find someone that you get along with and you enjoy, doing photography together, you can do all sorts of things. I'll talk about the kind of things you can do as well in a minute. the other option though is to join an online community. Now I while I've been doing this, while I've been living in France which is for years now I've had the online sales training courses and for a while I ran with a thing called the Creative Photography Academy which was my sort of umbrella for the training and the community side of photography. And then Greem Elliot photography was the fine art photographs. I decided to just bring that all in because it just made life a little bit easier for me. And I was also running a monthly magazine, online magazine as part of the Creative Photography Academy as well and that had challenges and things like that in it. but what I have kept from that is just Facebook group so it's not terribly active at the moment I'll be honest. But if you are interested in joining that it's grandmamrly Photography in Facebook there should be a link from my website somewhere and you're welcome to just join that page, post work, make comments and that was really the idea of it. It was just a place online where you could just share your work get critique if you want work to be critiqued. I generally take the view that if you don't ask for people to critique your ah, work then you're just wanting to share it. But if you are looking for people to critique then by all means ask and that will get going. So that's one of the options for you just to look at what online groups and communities there are hopefully. I'd like to make mine more active but I'll be straight up it's not particularly active at the moment so you may decide to just if you can find another group online that is active. So that's one option and one of the things I do want to talk about, I'll talk about it now because I think it's important and particularly coming back to mental health. I was coaching somebody in their photography two or three years ago now. It was a while back and the comment that she made was that she was quite new to photography and she'd had a share of mental health issues as well. So photography was a really important aspect of her life. It gave her exactly that space that I've been talking about where it was separate. It was just something she really loved doing and she wants to grow as a photographer and she'd take time out and she had particular subjects she liked shoot so she would go and photograph them and the work that she really liked, she would post on, Instagram. The problem came though when she started getting really negative feedback, and people critiquing and basically giving her negative comments about her work. So a few things that I really want to talk about in relation to that. First of all, not everyone would like what you do. And this is something I found with my work, particularly when, because I put a lot on Instagram and a few years ago I was experimenting with some non animal things. And what I found was that the stuff that I kind of liked because it was a little bit strange, it was a little bit different, absolutely bommed when I put it on Instagram. So I guess I was really connecting with the wrong people. But it is something to remember that, that you're likely to have a following. And they tend, the followings tend to be very conservative. They like what you do. If for example it's wildlife photography, then what they want to see are wildlife photograph'not something else that you've been trying. So do bear that in mind and maybe have multiple Instagram pages. A friend of mine has multiple Instagram pages as well, for different aspects of his work. The second thing I think is important about critiquing, if you're not specifically asking for people to give feedback, then this is uninvited comments. And I heard a line from somebody, saying that they would never take unsolicited advice from someone who they wouldn't consciously go to to get advice. So, I very rarely actually get those kind of comments now, I'm trying to remember last time I did. But if somebody makes comment, I don't know them, I'll generally have a look at their work. I mean, look, they may make a fair point. That's always a possibility. So I'm not saying that everybody who comments will be trying to bring you down in some way, but I always like to have a look at their work just to see what kind of stuff they're posting, if they're posting at all. And look if it's good, and definitely if they've got a point, then I'll take it on board and then thank them for their input. A lot of time I find this's people whose work is pretty ordinary or they don't post anything at all. I generally find that these are the kind of people who just like to bring other people down. And I'm not that sort of person. I do to some extent at least understand why people do that. but basically as Far as I'm concerned, these are quite toxic people. So if that's your experience, I would just ignore them, delete them, unfriend them, block them, whatever the options are for you, but just cut them out of it because we don't need that toxic stuff. In my, opinion, there's absolutely no need for it. we're here as photographers to, enjoy photography, whatever that means for us, and to grow as photographers and get new ideas, share ideas and support one another. And if people aren't capable of doing that, I would really distance, myself from them. So that's an important part of it. When you do share work in whatever format or forum that is, just bear that in mind because it is easy to take on board a lot of negative comments and it could even reach a point where you stop doing photography and you definitely don't want to do, that. I think that would be a huge mistake. So that's one option for you. If you are in a situation where you are not in a large community and there are not other photographers around that you can connect with. Or in my case, my French is really quite awful. I am learning, but it turns out I'm not very good at languages and I thought I'd be much better. So that's actually another, problem that I have when it comes to connecting with a local group. And this might also be true for you. You might be an experat in a community and for whatever reason, you're not very good at the local language and it can be a real barrier. And I have to say that one thing I've got from moving to France is it's been a huge, it's been learning, but it's just, my understanding of what people go through when they go into community and they can't communicate. I've learned firsthand what a massive impediment it is and what a difference it makes in your ability to connect. And, really the coming back to the point of this podcast, it is about connecting to other people, through photography. So who knows, if you're in that sort of situation, it may be worth trying to connect with people. You don't really speak the language, but as photographers, we do speak a common language and it's in what we do, in the results we get. Yeah, there's a bit of jargon. I'm not a big one on jargon. I try not to use it, unless I'm speaking with somebody who. And it's a useful short form. But, to me, jargon, if it isn't in that context, it becomes a way of maintaining separation. It's about, for whatever reason, feeling a little bit better than the person who doesn't understand all the technical stuff. So to me, photography and teaching photography, when I'm doing that or just talking about my work, it's about, trying to convey things in terms that other people can understand so that they can then go and replicate if that's what they want to do. So online communities are one option. When I was living in Sydney and also prior to moving to Australia, when I was in the uk, there were photography clubs around and I've been more involved with them, in Sydney, although, only to a fairly limited degree. And this is where you really need to decide what you want from a photography group because I've certainly seen groups and look, this is going back a ways and when I was a lot younger and what I found was the photography groups that were around. And this is back in the days of film, but I'm sure this is true for other groups anyway. Today, it tended to be run by, I refer to them as older people, but people who had a particular style of photography and that was what they did. They were very stuck in their ways and it was kind of their way or the highway. They weren't really very interested in people who were, trying to innovate, do something different, just expand their photography in all sorts of different ways. So it depends what you want. You might be very set in what you do. You might be working in a particular or using, doing engaging as EAs. For me to say, a particular type of photography, let's say portraits for example. And you might find a group and that's all they do and they have a particular way of doing it. And if that works for you, then that's fine. But it may be that you are interested in trying new things out. I certainly am. I, I'm always looking for new ideas. So there are certain groups that I've come across where I find their attitude a little bit stifling. So they haven't really worked for me. So what I'm really trying to say here is find the group that works for you. And if you enjoy, if you look forward to spending time with people, then that's an important aspect of it. So that's another thing to do. So where do you find these groups? Well, you can obviously Google them and Google is just great for finding stuff. Obviously, that's one way of going about it. I like Meetup. I, was using Meetup in Sydney, for something else I was doing. Actually. I had my own meetup group, but with photography. I went to a couple of groups that I heard about through Meetup and with one of them that's We're Observers in Sydney with Shane Rosario and Colin Winter Seaton. I ended up joining those two and became the sort of third person in the group. And I was teaching DSLR on the weekly and then fortnightly photo walks that we would do in Sydney Harbour. But the nice thing about it was there was a real community of people there. And one of the things that Shane ran as part of We're Observers was a monthly photo talk where somebody, Shane had a studio. He ren to a studio. We'd get there early, set out all the chairs and we'd have a photographer come along and they would show and talk about their work. And there were all sorts of different people. I mean I've spoken about wildlife. There was another wildlife photographer who coincidentally grew up in the same town I did in England and we met in Sydney. we had a lady who did a lot of studio work. We had a lady who would get out early and get in the surf, put on wetsuit and take photographs in the surf. So some really niche stuff. But it was very interesting. And I also used to go along to photo talks. This wasn't so much, for community, but it just prompted me because there was a local group, it was actually a travel company and they would run these talks every month, in their office. And I used to go along those and I found them very interesting. And I also went along to the Australian Museum. Actually used to run talks too on different things. but at this travel company they had a guy come along and he was sharing his work and he photographed trees. And if you've listened to other podcast or attended any of my webinars, you may well have heard this story. But, trees, to me thinking wildlife, they'generally something that gets in the way. You know, the animals on the wrong side of the tree. For me to get a good photograph or it's messing up my focus or whatever it is. And yet this guy was talking about how he used trees. And in fact, more to the point it was how he was using the space around the trees. And I walked out of that and it was an hour or two, this talk and I was absolutely inspired by what he'd said. So, yeah, there can be groups Specifically photo groups going on, but also look out for events where people are talking about their work. And part of the Creative Photography Academy, I did an online, a series of online photo talks. I invited people I knew to just do a talk, share their work. Excuse me, Share their work and do a talk. So I was just having a drink of water and the idea was to basically just replicate what Shane had been doing in Sydney because it was very, I found that very interesting. And that again is one of the great things about photography. It's not just the technical aspects of photography and post processing, all the other things we do, but also learning more about the subjects. And so with wildlife photography, if you've listened to my podcast on wildlife photography, a big part of that is doing your prep, learning about the animal. What are the kind of photographs that you want, you're likely to get? what photographs would you like to get which might be showing a particular behavioior? So for example Humpback, Wales breaching was the one I'd love to get. But I'd also take photographs of other things they were up to. And the nice thing about that is that other people who look at these photographs may for the first time realize that the animal does other things if it's an animal. So whatever kind of photography you're into, think about what you can convey to other people. And a great way of getting those ideas is to join a community of some sort. So I've spoken a little bit about the type of community you can go to, some kind of pros and cons, things look out for. The last thing I want to talk about is challenges because it may be that you've not been able to do any of these things and you're sitting on your own and you're kind of out of ideas and you flick through Instagram every now and again or whatever it might be, but you're not really feeling stretched and accountable. So one of the best things I think you can do is to take on a project. And if you want to take on a project, I do have a 14 day, project set up on my website. So if you jump onto the website and look at I, think I've called it improving your photography. Every now and again I tweet things on the website and then forgot what I've changed. but somewhere in there it's where the photography courses are. But you'll also find there's a free 14 day challenge. All you do is you sign up for it. And then every day you get sent an email with a challenge. So it might be rule of thirds. So you'got to shoot something with rule of thirds out, be something else. And obviously the idea behind that is that you do whatever that challenge is and it might be something you do every day, but hopefully there's a few things in there that are quite new to you and you might be a bit uncomfortable with initially. And that really you, if you're feeling uncomfortable about it, that's good because it means you're pushing out of your comfort zone. You're basically stretching that zone and making it bigger. So in that 14 day challenge, there are some things that you may not have done before and that's where the learning is. other kinds of challenges you can do. You can do a 365 day challenge. So shoot one photograph every day for a year and you can decide exactly what that is or you can jump online, just Google photography challenges and you'll get other ideas there. I do like the 365. I've not done one, I'll be honest. I did put together a kind of 365 day, video and it was just basically a new photograph every couple of seconds on this short video and said it to music. another one I saw I thought was amazing. Now this, you really got a plan for this one. but there was a guy, he had a daughter and he had taken a photograph of her. I think it was one every year from when she was either one or two, but very young age right through to when she was 20. And it was just amazing as a sequence of photographs just put into a video to just watch those changes. Or you might take two photographs a year, something like that. obviously that's not for you. If you're a little bit impatient and want see the results quickly, that needs a bit of planning. But you can also take photographs of, from the same spot, the same view at different times of the year or even different times of day. You could do it for a week at three different times of day or a month, whatever. So once you start thinking about it, there are all sorts of challenges. Others are to just use one lens. So if you normally use a zoom lens and you've got a standard like a 50mm length, something like that, then for a week or a month or whatever it is, or a shoot, whatever works for you, you just use that one lens so it's fixed, focal length. And you've now got to get creative but not by zooming in and out. So that's another way of just challenging yourself. So I think the bottom line is that first of all I think the key thing is that for me, photography, if you are really into photography, is a very important thing to keep doing. Make sure you make time for it. That is actually, where a physical group can be very helpful because for example with the photo walks, they started at

7: 23:01

00 every Tuesday evening or every other Tuesday evening. So it physically meant getting there and doing it, but it meant that you had to put that time aside and hold yourself accountable. If it's important to you, then don't wriggle out of it. You know, even if it's difficult, whatever the problems are, make sure you go make that commitment, make that a habit, that every other Tuesday you join a group, if that's what the group is, or if you're on your own. Maybe it is

Tuesday at 6: 23:28

00 you go out for one hour and you photograph something. Maybe you take a challenge and that's your time to challenge yourself. Maybe you choose a particular type of photography and you do that. So the point I'm making though is to make it a priority because I believe that when you do that with something that you really love doing, it's just better for you. It gives you that break from everything else. And then having had that break, you can at least come back to it, a little bit fresher, maybe see problems in a different perspective or just not feel quite so streressed as you were when you started. So that can be very beneficial. So do make the photography priority, in terms of what can you actually do, if you're in a small area, maybe have a look, have, do a Google, see if there is anybody running anything. Facebook is another place. There might be a Facebook group. there might be meet up. There might be something else where you live. if not, look for online groups, maybe with a similar time zone to where you are because it may be that you find other people online who are kind of within a sort of commuting distance or you might be able to physically meet with them once a month, something like that. and then that obviously adds another dimension to that connection. If you're in a bigger community then as I've said, look at, what's available again, Google meetup, anything else where you might find a group. There might be, one of the manufacturers might have something going on. So I've spoken about Canunning collective, but that was just one that was running in Sydney. I think it's, finished now, but I'm sure there are other groups around so, you know, have a think about it. And if you can't find anything, then at least do a challenge whether you want to. You're welcome to jump onto mine. It's free. you just hop on and you'll get the emails every day. or just Google challenges and find one that, floats your boat. but make that commitment to it. So that's pretty much this podcast. I guess there's sort of two angles to it. One is simply the mental health aspect and de stressing a little bit and how important photography can be in just doing that for you. And the second one is to try and find a community of some sort. And, as I've said, you're welcome to join my Facebook group. I do check it and, if you want to just share work or ask for critiquing, that's fine. And I think finally just be aware of, not getting caught up with toxic people. you do get these people around. They just want to feel better than everybody else or think they're better than everybody else, whatever it might be that's going on for them. But they're just not nice to be around and they can take the enjoyment out of something. That really should be a very enjoyable thing to do. And, that's what photography has been for me, for my life. Okay, so that is it. hopefully that's been useful and, I will speak to you in the next podcast. Bye for now. Well, we're getting close to the end of another year, so 2024 is starting to, come to an end as I record this. So I hope it's been a good year for you and I hope you get a bit of a break over the coming weeks. Maybe have a cool yul or whatever it is you celebrate, if you celebrate. I particularly just wanted to record this to thank everybody for their support. the podcast is really growing and obviously that's down to people listening and hopefully sharing. so I do thank you for that. I particularly want to thank my Patreon supporters because they, contribute to, what I'm doing financially, which is great because that helps me to keep going. And if you haven't contributed or if you're thinking about it, don't be shy, that you can. It doesn't have to be a permanent subscription. You can also just buy me a coffee if you've enjoyed the podcast, but everything is appreciated. And I also wanted to remind you that the 2025 calendar, my wildlife calendar, is still available, so you can order those online on the website. so if you go to www.gephotography, you'll find, the calendars there. so whether they're for you or if you just wanna give one to somebody as a present, I think calendars are a pretty good present to go for. Of course, there's also the fine art, prints and my online training courses. Now if you are serious about photography and you're not ready to commit to a course and, I am giving 100% money back guarantee on those as well. So I'm taking all of the risk on the courses. but there's also challenges you can do for free, like the 14 day challenge that's there. There's also a PDF you can download, that gives you 10 tips to just help your photography. So whatever you're doing, over the next few weeks, I hope you enjoy it. And I'll be looking at, my plans for 2025, which at this stage I'm hoping to get to Zimbabwe. So, I'll keep you informed on that. But whatever you do, I hope you have a great time and thanks again for your support throughout 2024. So bye for now.