Overcoming Fears | Foundation Workshop 9

I can’t remember who said it first, but the best way to describe the experience at Foundation Workshop is that it’s about the process, not the pictures. This was certainly true for me.

I came to the workshop wanting to overcome my fears–my fear of what others think of me, my fear of looking silly or stupid. I knew those fears were holding me back in my photography. I also wanted to be critiqued, to be challenged in my work.

I could try to describe this past week in minute detail, giving a timeline of what I did, but that sort of explanation would utterly fail to describe what I learned. How does photographing a local coffee shop and panhandlers on the street all in three days make any sense? But it’s what I did.

At the end of the week, all the participants presented slideshows of their work. I can’t share the slideshow here because it just wouldn’t make sense without the context of the workshop (plus I don’t want to give anyone else looking to do the workshop some specific idea of what they’re supposed to do–everyone’s experience is a little different). But I will share a few photos and the sentence I wrote to sum up what I learned.

“Everyone is approachable, and the story is rarely what you think.”

That’s the best explanation I can give for what I learned. I faced my fears of what others think, and I fought against my preconceived ideas of people and stories. I now feel emboldened and more confident to photograph what I see the way I see it. I’m not afraid to have a hundred stranger’s eyes staring at me, and I know I can tell the story if I only try. I’m excited now more than ever to pick up my camera and capture life in all its ugliness and beauty. I cannot wait to take this fearless approach into my weddings. My only regret is that I didn’t do this workshop sooner.

Many thanks go to my team leader, Huy Nguyen, and my incredible team of mentors, Ben and Erin Chrisman, Amy Deputy, and Jennifer Domenick, as well as my wonderful fellow participants.