Keeping it Simple

From outside the road to selling photography or videography looks winding and arduous. We can over complicate things with unnecessary steps or stand in our own way with a desire for perfection. We can get confused by various methods, or simply throw in the towel prematurely, when just around the corner was success. 

I think uncertainty can dissuade many to pursue their own projects. Freelancing is a path with no end in sight, without many examples of people who’ve found results. Often support is scarce, and success can feel a long way away.

But what if it were possible? What if you could see your own work? You’d have no boss, could travel wherever you liked, could watch history unfold, and see behind the veil of our social and political structures.

I’ve sold work thousands of times, in different mediums, from different countries, on different topics, to different clients. Stories about child soldiers in South East Asia, gold mining in Myanmar, human trafficking in Texas, drone warfare between Ukraine and Russia, or COVID-19 in Juarez, Mexico.

I’ve also watched other people sell projects, my mentors, my colleagues, and my peers.

But for all of us, regardless of our subject, narrative, or choice of equipment, when selling our personal projects or self-directed work, the method is always the same and it’s quite straightforward.

Once we’ve made the decision to follow the path of a project, it’s twists, surprises, highs and lows, once we’re committed, it’s time to simplify.

Whether we’re full time freelancing or moonlighting around a 9-to-5 job, we need to focus one step at a time. We need to empty our brain of the road ahead, while trusting the decision to embark.

If the first step isn’t complete it makes no sense to move to the second. We just cloud judgment with unnecessary data, worries, and concerns. Focus. One foot in front of the other.

Here’s an easy breakdown:
Research project
Find access
Make project
Edit
Load into portfolio
Research contacts
Pitch to contacts 
Negotiate sale
Repeat

We can go deep on each of these steps, find endless pieces to add, unlimited points to polish, but perfection works against us. It’s important to move through these stages steadily, creating solid work at each stop, without lingering too long. Only after every point is complete will a sale be possible.

The hunt for perfection isn’t achieved reworking the same project again and again, it’s in the act of continuing to make new projects. Each one better than the last.