Things that Never Change

by Mario Mattei on October 14, 2010

Can I steal your attention to tell you about all that's new and exciting? The new Canon XX camera body, how so-and-so is using Twitter to win photographic assignments, or about Facebook’s newest feature which is sure to help you add value to your clients, or why Web 2.0 is quickly becoming old news and where you can go to get your next blog technology to keep up, or… you get the point. All secondary stuff, folks! I know I get sucked into it. How about you?

Be an artist and master of your own destiny first! How? Intimately know your personal foundations and the foundational elements of your craft and business. Amidst the NOISE, this requires an equable mind.

Equable: not easily disturbed or angered; calm and even-tempered. Not easily excitable. Well-balance. Composed. Collected.

The equable mind is not sucked into this stream of distracting demands and now-now-now clatter. Rather it chooses when, where, and how to enter the stream of change, only then can you leverage the tools so that they remain just that, tools, not slave-masters. But how can the photographer nurture and maintain an equable mind?

The equable mind is founded on the Things That Never Change in 3 ways:

Knowing them
Prioritizing them
Growing in them

The things that never change are probably also the very things that ignite your passion, feed your creativity, and stimulate you to “get in your zone.”

Let’s have a look at a few I’ve identified. Please, add your own in the comments. My list is certainly not exhaustive. I sincerely want to learn from you, too (my own path to the “Knowing” part).

Changing

ISO technology

Focal point technology

Optics & camera technology

Post-processing styles & software

File format and presentation methods

Tools to communicate

How to market your work

Social Media

Online sharing platforms

Media delivery

Niches

Prosperity & stability of nations

Never Changes

Understanding and “seeing” the light

Creatively selected focus points

Manipulating aperture & shutter speed

Developing an image post camera

The power of an image on a human viewer

Principles of good communication

Attracting attention thru identifiable value

People skills & networking

Power of word-of-mouth

Desire for work to be experienced by others

Satisfaction in, & value of, being original

The dignity of all people

“Know” these items that never change. Then, apply the 80/20 rule for “Growth & Prioritizing”: spend 80% of your time on the most important 20%, those things that never change, and spend 20% of your time on the less important 80%, keeping up with all the changes. You will then upgrade yourself first and be utilizing the changing technologies and trends as tools to serve your equable foundations and artful expressions. Ironically, these things that never change have the most potential to change you and in this way are richer for change than anything else.