In today's society, where we all want what we want when we want it, a society of instant gratification and the expectation for things to come easily, it's far to simple to ignore the virtues of patience. Now, I in no way am exalting myself as a patient person; far from it. It's a lesson I'm constantly learning and trying to teach myself, but not something that comes easily to me.
Building a business in 2010, in the current global economic meltdown, definitely has it's challenges. It can be easy to sit down one day & say, "I've tried everything, and the business is not coming. I give up." You work your tail off trying to promote yourself and your work, you send out business cards, portfolios, etc, only to not book any jobs. Or, even better, you get the job offer, but they want to pay you some ridiculously low figure. At these times, it becomes all too easy to throw in the towel.
But whenever I have these moments of frustration, I have to look back at what the world would be if all the greats had done that. What if daVinci had said "No one is recognizing my work, my art, my labor. I'm just gonna go on to something everyday and easier. This isn't worth it." Think about all the modern conveniences that may not exist. But they do exist - because he persevered and had patience.
Think about nature. Think how long it takes for a tiny plant to be become a tall tree, or a gorgeous flower. But nature doesn't say, "Ya know, I'm kinda tired of doing this. It takes too long." Looking at nature, in particular, always helps me to bring things back into perspective. Very few things are an overnight success, and those that are usually don't have a lot of staying power. We can't always expect everything to be easy and quick. Sometimes you have to be willing to push yourself past the frustration and the waiting to get to the good part, to be a success.
So my point today is simply to say, whether it involves photographing a subject (plant, animal, human, still life) that you just can't seem to get just right, or building your business (photography or otherwise), look to nature as your motivation. Think about Autumn. It's an amazing & beautiful season, but for most of the country, a short season. Still yet, most everyone agrees that the nine months or longer of waiting are completely worth the wait to experience the beauty of the season. And getting that perfect shot, or building your business to be exactly what you want it to be, will be worth the wait as well.
Patience may be a virtue, but it's one of the best lessons you'll ever learn, and once you do, probably the one that will make you the most successful.
I have left almost to the last the magic of water, an element which owing to its changefulness of form and mood and colour and to the vast range of its effects is ever the principal source of landscape beauty, and has like music a mysterious influence over the mind.
There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply
