Izzy (5pts) is a talented photographer I've been blessed to meet through Instagram. A couple weeks back he posted a photo on IG for $5000USD. Instantly his feed was flooded with comments like: "You've got to be $#%&ing kidding me, this is rape."
"I can take the same photo with a shit camera and 15 minutes."
These meaningless, ego stroking comments brought me back to this quote by Ryan Holiday:
“Every single thing you’re doing can be done by some other person. You’re not the best photographer in the world, you’re not the best writer in the world you’re not the best anything. So really, your job is just to connect better with other people than anyone else.”
This quote reminds me of something we all struggle to have, we're so caught up in following trends that we forget to have our own voice. How do we emerge and sustain relevance in a world that is saturated with content and packed with talented people? How do we shoot better photos, draw prettier pictures and craft more meaningful experiences than the rest?
Simple, we cant.
But what we can do is “CONNECT BETTER.” This is the simple reason why Im sharing my conversation between Izzy and I. The dude has created a platform to CONNECT at any instance with over 56,000 viewers. He’s EARNED the license to post as many photos as he wants for 5k, 10k and even 20k if he felt the need.
When Nike released the Air Yeezy's, sneakerhead's camped out for over a week to get a pair. Eventually, some sold for over ninety-thousand US dollars! What if these were released by KMART under Shaquille O'Neal? Would you have camped outside of KMART for a week? Probably not.
At the end of the day, people aren't buying into your work, they’re buying into you, your movement, your lifestyle, your thoughts, your ideas and beliefs. We're all replaceable, BUT what we stand for isn't.
Izzy may or may not sell the five-thousand dollar print today, but he sure as hell will sell it sooner than the dude with 100 followers who is too busy in the comment section crafting clever punch lines hoping to gain a couple more street creds.
Banner Image: Andy Howe