13 May 2011

expectations

I try too hard.

Last night I had an opportunity to play with my camera some more.  But the play only lasted for a little while.  Whether I wanted to admit it or not (and I didn't), I started competing.  Instead of taking pictures that I can appreciate personally I started trying to take pictures that certain other people would be impressed by.  The result is that far too many of the hundreds of shots I took are ones that I am unsatisfied with.  The same thing occurs with all my artistic endeavors.

Recognition of my talent is something that I crave more than I would like to admit.  I want people to love what I do as much as I do.  The irony is that the more I focus on that, the less I love what I create.  Expectations must be abandoned; other people must vanish from the mind; passion must be unleashed; all other thoughts must be pushed aside.  Otherwise I misuse the gift that God has given me.

2 comments:

  1. I feel the same way! Take heart, though. It is better to create than to not create.

    This is a blog entry from a guy who wrote about this topic. I'm not a fan of most of this guy's entries, but I liked the first part of this one: http://www.threenewleaves.com/how-to-utterly-fail-at-following-your-dreams/

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  2. Thank you for sharing that! It was definitely something I needed to read. :)

    ReplyDelete