Dog Walk Philosophy: Shoot Mushrooms
My best mushroom photo.
I walk my dog every morning. Most mornings we walk pretty much the same route. So I decided to give myself a challenge. Find something unique along the path I tread daily and take a photo. Somedays there will be something genuinely new. Others I will have to find a way to shoot the mundane with a new perspective.
I recently bumped into a man in one of my local parks, my camera in hand. He approached and told me he was a photographer as well. We did as all photography nerds do and began talking about camera brands, specs and preferred focal lengths.
“What do you shoot?”, I asked. “Street? Portrait?”
“Mushrooms.”
I’m sure the befuddled look on my face was all the inquiry I needed.
“I’m fascinated with mushrooms. The different shapes and colors, where and how they grow. They just make for really interesting photos.”
I’m reminded of two important lessons I’ve learned from creatives. Both of which I’m really bad at following.
1) Make what you love. Creativity is a lifelong affair. You have to make the things that are authentic to you. You not only have to find your voice, but you have to find the vehicle that communicates your voice clearly. Don’t get caught up in, “Is there a market for this?” There are nearly eight billion people in the world. Yes, there is a market.
2) Make your niche as specific as possible. My mushroom friend could have stopped at nature photography. He could have shot birds, and foxes, flowers and forests, and for his trouble he would be like every other nature photographer you have ever seen. Instead, he drilled down so far that his pool of like-minded photographers (I’m awkwardly avoiding calling them competitors) is super tiny. Because of his tiny slice of a niche I might very well have met the greatest mushroom photographer in the world and didn’t know it.
Figure out what your version of mushroom photography and master it. You will be happier for pursuing the weird little thing that you love and if you do it well, will acquire a following who loves your work as much as you do.
