Are you hiding your best work?

It’s that time of year again. IPA judging opened last week, the same week as our ‘Made in Chiang Mai’ presentation (along with the inevitable rounds of edits and re-edits).

It’s given my brain an onslaught of lovely fresh photography. But it’s also reminded me that, whether they win awards or not, a LOT of personal projects never really get seen.

I often speak to photographers with a gorgeous series (or three) still sitting on a hard drive a year after they were made, waiting for a simple grade. Or who’ve won awards but not gotten around to sharing the news.

Even if you’re someone who shares every win on social media, you might still struggle to get noticed.

In fact, if you’re not putting your work in front of creative decision makers in multiple ways (including those monthly emails you keep meaning to send) you might as well be hiding under a rock.

The photographers I see getting regular jobs and building long-term client relationships don’t post a few images on Instagram and hope for the best (or leave them sitting on a hard drive).

They’re constantly talking about their work, sharing it with the right people, and resurfacing it again and again across different platforms.

And if you’re not doing this, what’s stopping you?

I hear all sorts of reasons.

“I’m too busy.” (Usually working on the jobs that bore you senseless.)

“It’s too cringey.”

But if you dig deep, it nearly always comes back to one thing.

FEAR.

Fear of rejection. Fear of being exposed. Fear of being vulnerable. And perhaps most of all, fear of being visible.

If you want to succeed as a lens-based image maker today, you can’t hide behind the camera forever. Your work deserves to be seen, and so do you.

I know you’ve made amazing work. Now make sure the right people see it.