Don’t Compare Your Work to Others

I have been a huge fan of Cole Thompson for quite some time now. Not only is his photography phenomenal, but his thoughts behind the photography resonate with me. He thinks things through and explains them well. I am constantly finding myself agreeing completely with his posts, explanations etc. One of the things that Cole Thompson does (or actually doesn’t do) is let himself look at the work of others. He doesn’t study it, or dwell on it. It’s distracting to him. Sometimes, it’s even discouraging to see how great other’s work is (in his opinion) compared to his own work.

A few days ago, Cole posted a new blog post discussing his thoughts on comparing his work to others. I could definitely see myself reflected once again in much of what he had to say about how comparing his work with others affects him. Thought it would be great to share his original post with ya’ll. You can also follow the link at the bottom of this post to jump over to Cole’s blog.

“When I look at other photographer’s work I sometimes get discouraged. I’ll see an incredible shot, taken at a place I’ve visited before and wonder why I didn’t see it. I may see a great new technique and wonder why I didn’t have the vision to think of that. There will be a fantastic new portfolio on a familiar subject and I’ll wonder why I hadn’t see its potential.

In other words: I sometimes compare my work to others and become unhappy with my work and progress.

Do you ever feel that way? I suspect that we all do this sometimes: compare our work to someone else’s, or worse, compare our work to everyone else’s! It’s good for me to periodically remind myself of a few things (and that’s why I write all of these blogs);

First, creating art is not a competition, someone does not have to lose for someone else to win. Unlike much of life, we can all win if we create images that bring about personal satisfaction.

Second, it’s not realistic for a photographer to be great in all things. I am not going to be a great street photographer AND a great portrait photographer AND a great landscape photographer AND a great photojournalist AND a great abstract photographer. So comparing myself to all of these other photographers is just silly and frustrating! We can be great, but not in everything, and our goal should be to find what we are great in.

Third, please yourself. Comparing, in photography or in life, is never very productive. You cannot look to external standards, whether it be others work or their opinions, to find personal satisfaction. You must be comfortable with yourself and your art to find satisfaction.

Don’t compare your work or yourself to others, it’s not needed and no good will come from it.”

Any thoughts on what he had to say? Agree/Disagree?

Here’s a link to Cole’s Blog.