Without communities, we would live very isolated lives with minimal to no contact outside of our immediate social circle. Getting outside of our close-knit group, and meeting new people is an essential part of cultivating a self-fulfilled life!
It allows us to support one another, interact, share experiences and our modern life struggles. Having this open bond with others is what builds valuable relationships, and gives us a deeper sense of belonging.
Communities are also rich in resources. Your strengths may be someone else’s weaknesses and vice versa. With the diversity of skills, common goals can be achieved that much faster!
Photography is for some reason a “loner” type of hobby, but camera clubs have proven that it doesn’t have to be that way!
You can advance much quicker in your process by meeting other photographers, chatting with them and learning from them. In return most only ask that you pass on what you have learned to another member when the opportunity presents itself.
Being a part of a Photographic community will help you be around other photographers, some that may be more talented or have more experience and learn from them! I can tell you my personal photography has advanced more in the 2 years in a community than all the years prior! It is like caffeine for your craft, now that being said the more active you are the more you will get out of the community!
Communities expose you to real life experiences such as model shoots, Wedding shoots, and other directions that you may want to pursue but have not had the experience. It also opens up doors to meeting members that you may want to work under to learn more about your craft!
You will have the opportunity to meet & network with other like minded people and speak about business & photography! Although the subject might be the same, everyone’s style is different and deserves a chance to be heard in a different perspective.
Community engagement is often heavily one-sided, and engagement projects can be inundated with input from only those community members who have a strong opinion. Without other perspectives being aired, decision makers might not make the best decision for the community as a whole simply because of a minority of loud voice.
If your opinion differs from the more popular opinions, decision makers want to hear from you so they get a balanced understanding of the community’s views and enhance the value of the final decision. The more views gathered in the process of making a decision, the more likely the final product will meet the needs and address the most concerns possible and If you fear repercussions of going against a vocal group, engagement can often be done anonymously.
So therefore, I have created a discord for photographers to get together and grow. I want to learn. I want to learn what to do and not to do. I want to learn more about why photographers shoot the way they do, edit the way they do, not in a competitive style at all. More of a mutual respect, I have often pushed an artist to the side and not dig deeply into their work and now looking at a different view I think we as a community could be missing some valuable gems among us. Everyone’s art deserves respect.
You can join this community by clicking this link here.