Episode 59 - What If They Hate It The Courage to Create Anyways

What If They Hate It? The Courage to Create Anyways

Speaker: Fear, Courage, and Creative Breakthroughs

Speaker: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is your host, Matthew Jordan Smith. I want to welcome you to the Photography Breakthrough Podcast. And today, I wanna talk about fear. Not the kind of fear that comes when you're physically in danger. We all know about that

Speaker: And maybe right now you're, you're feeling fearful about things that are happening around in the world today. I get that

Speaker: But today I wanna talk about a different type of fear. I'm talking about the fear that quietly stops us from doing the things we really want to do I'm talking about the fear of failing

Speaker: and the fear of being judged

Speaker: The fear that somebody might look at what you're creating and say, "That's not good enough." And sometimes maybe the biggest fear of all What if I try and nothing happens? You see, I see that fear all the time. I hear it almost every day. It doesn't matter what country you're living in

Speaker: It's ubiquitous

Speaker: There's a phrase that's widely attributed to the great artist, one of my favorites, Henri Matisse

Speaker: Creativity takes courage

Speaker: I love that phrase because creativity does take courage. To create something that already looks like everything else doesn't require much courage. But to follow something inside you

Speaker: To make something that other people may not understand, to put your name on it, and then put it out in the world, that, my friends, that takes courage. And Matisse, that great artist, he knew something about that. You see, the year was 1913, and his work was included in the International Exhibition of Modern Art, better known as the Armory Show

Speaker: If you live in New York City, we all know about The Armory Show. It's talked about left and right

Speaker: But back in 1913, after opening in New York, the exhibition traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago

Speaker: Today we think about Henri Matisse as one of the greatest artists in the 20th century. But imagine being Matisse back then, 1913. Because when people in Chicago saw his work, some of them didn't celebrate it. Now, that's hard to believe when you think about the body of work that Matisse has done.

Speaker: Back in the '90s, uh, I was a young photo assistant. Beginning of the '90s, early '90s, I was a young photo assistant, and there was a show at the time in New York. It was the biggest showing of the work of Matisse and Picasso together I went three times to try to get in the show because it was sold out the first two times I went.

Speaker: All of New York was going to see this show, and I fell in love. It was the lifetime work of both artists. I fell in love with, with both artists even more that day But we're talking about 1913

Speaker: And he's not a really well-known artist in America at all, and he's showing his work in New York and Chicago at the Art Institute of Chicago

Speaker: And people in Chicago, not everyone, but a lot of them, didn't like what they saw. They ridiculed it. This is Matisse, and people saw the work, art students, and they ridiculed his work

Speaker: Students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago were so offended by the new art they were seeing that they organized a public protest. Think about that. Not just saying you don't like it, but making a public protest of the work. They held a mock trial of Matisse. Think about that They literally put this artist on trial.

Speaker: And after finding him guilty, they burned reproductions of his paintings

Speaker: Now these were art students, future artists, people being trained at one of the leading art schools in America

Speaker: And they looked at Matisse's work and essentially said, "This isn't art

Speaker: Now you read that, you hear about that, but think about being Matisse. Imagine what that must have felt like

Speaker: But let's go further than that because that did happen. If that was you, what would you have done

Speaker: Today, some people can't handle not getting a like on a post on Instagram Imagine being Matisse and having them put you on trial, a mock trial, for your art and find you guilty of making what they felt was junk, not worthy of being art

Speaker: Now imagine if he had gone back to his studio and thought, "Maybe they're right Maybe I'm going too far because that happens. I've heard about it. I've seen it. Even this week, I got an email from a young photographer who was asking me about, you know, stuff on Instagram and basically feeling the same way because he wasn't getting enough likes

Speaker: He's not the only one. I've heard that from so many people over the years, basically around social media and the acceptance of the work or getting, getting work, being hired, whatever, based on a like on social media

Speaker: But let's go back to Matisse what if he had thought maybe I'm going too far? Maybe I should make my work look more like everyone else's. Maybe I should make something people will understand immediately. Maybe I should play it safe What would the world have lost

Speaker: That brings me to you

Speaker: What are you not doing because you're afraid?

Speaker: What work are you afraid to make? What creative work are you afraid to make? What clients are you afraid to contact? What price are you afraid to charge?

Speaker: What about your personal projects? The one you've been thinking about for years

Speaker: What competition have you not entered? What email haven't you sent

Speaker: What dream have you quietly convinced yourself is unrealistic?

Speaker: Sometimes we think fear is telling us to stop

Speaker: But I believe sometimes fear is telling us exactly where we need to go. Because the things that mean the most to us are often the things that scare us the most

Speaker: If it doesn't matter to you, there's very little fear But when you really want something, when you care deeply about it

Speaker: when it represents something important about who you are or who you want to become. Suddenly, the possibility of rejection becomes frightening Because now it feels personal But here's what I want you to think about today You may be treating the possibility of rejection as evidence that you shouldn't try When rejection may simply be the price of discovering what you're capable of

Speaker: This is your wake-up call. Go out and do the thing that you are most afraid to do I'm Matthew Jordan Smith, and this is the Photography Breakthrough Podcast. I look forward to seeing you again next week. Always dream big. Bye for now