[0:00:00] Natalie Jennings: Hello. Hello, my friend.

[0:00:02] Audrey Nicole: How are you doing?

[0:00:03] Natalie Jennings: Pretty good. How are you?

[0:00:05] Audrey Nicole: Good.

[0:00:06] Natalie Jennings: How's the weather? Where you're at?

[0:00:08] Audrey Nicole: It's, like, endlessly snowy here. But you know me, I love leaning into that and just being cozy for, like, three months.

[0:00:14] Natalie Jennings: Yep. It is really pretty out. It's snowing right now again, too, isn't it? Yeah. Husband.

[0:00:19] Audrey Nicole: Yeah, a little bit here, too.

[0:00:21] Natalie Jennings: More snow. They say it's the snowiest winter. We've had, like, the amount of snow that we have now by January 25, or whatever it is, is the amount of snow we should have for the entire year.

[0:00:33] Audrey Nicole: Whoa.

[0:00:35] Natalie Jennings: So there's.

[0:00:36] Audrey Nicole: That another one of those big years.

[0:00:39] Natalie Jennings: Big.

[0:00:39] Audrey Nicole: I love it. If it's going to be cold as heck, we're in Minneapolis or Minnesota, rather. Not just Minneapolis, but, I mean, if it's going to be sub zero, I'd rather there at least be some snow. It's also better for the plants and animals.

[0:00:53] Natalie Jennings: Yeah. I'm excited for how nice and juicy my garden will be in the spring.

[0:01:00] Audrey Nicole: If you don't live in four seasons, it's such a trip to look out the window and see a frozen tundra, and then six months later, look out and see, like, a jungle. It's crazy. It's wild.

[0:01:12] Natalie Jennings: It's actually really cool. I like it.

[0:01:14] Audrey Nicole: It is very cool watching things grow, because it is it's one of the few places where you get to watch things grow at such a rapid rate. It's insane. And then it all dies and goes back into the ground. It's pretty beautiful.

[0:01:27] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, it is really cool. Or Minnesota.

[0:01:32] Audrey Nicole: Yeah. Well, on that note, should we jump in to our question for today?

[0:01:38] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, let's do it.

[0:01:40] Audrey Nicole: Cool. If you'd like to submit a question, helpdesk at Photobiz help. Send us a note. Here we go. How to be inspired by or learn from other photographers work versus just getting sucked into the comparison trap. I might have read that a little weird, but how can I be inspired by or learn from other photographers work versus just getting sucked into the comparison trap? This is such a good one.

[0:02:07] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, it really is. You go first if you have thoughts.

[0:02:11] Audrey Nicole: Just my first thought is always the same, and I've said this before, but I love the feeling of seeing what someone else is doing and just being like, oh, my God, that's what I'm trying to create. That's a version of what I want to do. And the important word there is a version of if you are super inspired by somebody and you want to create the kind of business and style that they have because you just love it, just remember that part of it has to still be yours. That you can experiment to try and inspire yourself to create something similar, but make it your own. Also, I think that's incredibly important because it is yours, it's not theirs. And you'll find things that they do that you might not like doing, and that's good. It's good to be inspired, but it's also good to make it your own. And it's good to look at work for inspiration that isn't in your genre. So I've mentioned this before, too, where I look at a lot of, like, old photography, foundation stuff and just street photography stuff that I don't do professionally, and it really brings, like, a new flavor into my professional work. So I think we can get kind of numb by looking at let's say you're doing weddings. You just look at wedding photographers all the time. I think that can kind of deplete your creativity because it's, like, all you see, and then you just are trying to copy it, and it just gets kind of muddled. I think there's a difference between that and getting wildly inspired by someone and just being like, oh, my God, I want to learn how to add more of that to my portfolio. I think you can feel the energy behind that, too.

[0:03:50] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, that's a good point, too, about the looking at other types of work. I know a lot of photographers will look at paintings and things like that and just to kind of, I don't know, adds a different flavor. Is that what you said yes. To your work? I love that. Yeah.

[0:04:08] Audrey Nicole: I was in Paris last summer. One of my best friends lives there, and I love going to the museums when I'm there, obviously. But every time, I mean, just go walk around a museum as a photographer. Painting and photography are so close, and some painters are so talented that it looks like a photo. And your understanding of light and your inspiration definitely gets nurtured a little in a space like that. Even though it might not feel like there's a connection there, it's a deep connection. So something like that can be hugely helpful.

[0:04:40] Natalie Jennings: Yeah. Oh, no. I want to go walk around a museum. I haven't done that in a while either.

[0:04:45] Audrey Nicole: Yeah, let's go. We'll go to the Mia.

[0:04:49] Natalie Jennings: We should. It's like my college days, and we take field trips there. Yeah. So fun. Another thing, too, like, I'm thinking about my own experiences of feeling both is inspired and then comparing myself in a negative way. I found that when I'm comparing myself in a negative way, it's usually to somebody I know or who's kind of in my circle in some capacity. Like, I don't want to say, like, a threat, but somebody that's directly in my area, my region, who I know.

[0:05:25] Audrey Nicole: Yeah.

[0:05:25] Natalie Jennings: And I don't know why that is. I'm human. I'm sure there's some internal, like, this is my territory.

[0:05:33] Audrey Nicole: Yeah.

[0:05:34] Natalie Jennings: Vibes or whatever, but I have photographers who I'm so inspired by, and there's, like, a distance between us so that I don't feel any of that. And those are the people that I really give my attention to when I'm looking at other people's work, because there's been times that I've had to block just from my feed. Not block but hide. People that just are bothering me, I don't know what it is and they're almost always somebody that's nearby in proximity or somebody I know and bothering me by they're not doing anything to bother me. It's just my own, like kind of insecurities coming through and I just kind of push that away and hide it for a while and I focus on the people that are inspiring me, which are usually somebody just far out from me.

[0:06:23] Audrey Nicole: No, I think that's super healthy. I think what you mentioned about someone being local versus far away is so true in so many ways because I think it is the mirrors being held up and we're like, okay, well if we're in the same community then I should be XYZ or whatever. I think it makes it feel closer to home in some way. But I think and this person did ask versus getting sucked into the comparison trap. I think if you can get in the habit of noticing when you feel icky and then removing whatever you're doing from the situation. So it's like if you're doom scrolling and you're just feeling worse and worse and worse. I know this sounds obvious, but don't do that. Do something else. Like you said, you remove them or block them or hide them or whatever. And I think that isn't meant to be insulting. It's just like whatever you're working through, whatever you're going through, whatever your own shit is at the time, something about that person or that work is stirring that up. And if you don't want to sit in that all the time, like, then don't you know, it's your own yeah, you might come back to it later and be in a totally different place and that's great too. I also want to invite people, if you do have that stuff stirred up, to kind of maybe take a look at it, journal about it and kind of go like, what is it? Because once you kind of uncover some of that stuff like, oh, I just have never felt like I'm good enough at this, or oh, I just don't have confidence in my creative skills. You can uncover really interesting things in those moments if you're willing.

[0:08:00] Audrey Nicole: Sometimes we don't have the energy for it, but if you do and you're curious about like, why do I feel icky about this person, this person and this person and fine with this person and this person. We're human. We're very weird and complex. And so I think that that's a good exercise because you might learn something that could really help your business and help your own personal growth.

[0:08:22] Natalie Jennings: Totally. And I think for a while there too, I was like, well, am I just running away from my feelings if I just hide them? That's not productive. So then I'd just be like, no, that's immature. I just need to get over it. But if you're sitting there, and it's just making you feel icky, and there's no progress coming from it. Removing it from yourself, giving yourself space from it, is actually probably the best thing to do.

[0:08:47] Audrey Nicole: Yes.

[0:08:48] Natalie Jennings: And then when I have gone back to these people, because then I'll go back and creep because I'm human, and I'll be like, well, now what are they doing? Yeah, but if it's been some time, usually I kind of forget about them. And then I'm like, oh, yeah. And that's gone.

[0:09:04] Audrey Nicole: Yes.

[0:09:05] Natalie Jennings: And I think reflecting on, like, okay, why am I feeling threatened by this person? What does it actually mean? There was one person that several of my clients in the past went to, and I have no idea why nothing happened. It could have just been, like, an availability thing, a pricing thing. They decided to like that style photography a little bit different than mine or more than mine, but I had to work through that and then just think about it and be like, It's fine, actually. It's okay. I have all these other people that do still want me to take their photos, and that's where my energy needs to go.

[0:09:44] Audrey Nicole: Yes.

[0:09:45] Natalie Jennings: Reflect on it, but don't sit in it.

[0:09:47] Audrey Nicole: Yeah, well, and I've had that happen, too, where I've had clients move to someone else. And again, this is the point I'm trying to make here, is, like, I didn't know if it was pricing. I didn't know if it was availability or style. But when you find yourself in that weird comparison game or that kind of self doubt game, one really awesome tool that I learned is just to ask yourself, is it true?

[0:10:10] Natalie Jennings: Yeah.

[0:10:11] Audrey Nicole: Am I making up that, oh, my gosh, I suck, and they went to someone else because they don't like my am I making that up? Which is in that case, yes. You're just making up a story in your head, or do you have all the facts? Did they say, you know what? Your pricing is just a little too out of our budget nowadays. Then you have concrete information, and you can work through the feelings that come up from that. She says, quote, sucked into the comparison trap. It's a trap of our own devising. Generally, it's like our brains making up stuff that's not actually true. Most of the time, we are making up possible facts, possible outcomes. We do that. I don't know. I mean, our brains are complex and weird, and I don't know why we do that, but I'm guessing some of it is, like, survival or something.

[0:10:58] Natalie Jennings: Right?

[0:10:58] Audrey Nicole: We perceive threats, and we create threats when there actually isn't one. And you could go down a rabbit hole of different tools to sort that out.

[0:11:07] Natalie Jennings: We should talk about that on another podcast. That's the whole thing I could talk about. Okay, let's do it.

[0:11:13] Audrey Nicole: But for now, I mean, just get out of it. If it's bugging you, look for things that feel good. We say that all the time on this show. But, like, what feels good? And just maybe you've been doing weddings for ten years, and all of a sudden you want to start doing film photography with, like, a point and shoot like you used to buy at the drugstore, because you just are super inspired by that look. Then just do it. Like, go have fun for an afternoon, and maybe your business goes in that direction forever. Or maybe you just got it out of your system and now you feel excited again, but just get out of the icky stuff. Just turn off the phone and go do something else.

[0:11:51] Natalie Jennings: I know it's that simple. Sometimes just be the grown up parent yourself and be like, all right, stop this now. We're going to hide this person because they just are making me feel like crap for no reason. And go find the thing that makes you feel good.

[0:12:06] Audrey Nicole: Yeah, for sure. And if you have the energy for it again, you might not, but if you do, maybe take a deeper look because you could learn something too. Either way, try and alchemize the energy into something better. Don't sit in it.

[0:12:23] Natalie Jennings: Amen.

[0:12:24] Audrey Nicole: Okay, well, yeah, send us questions. We want more.

[0:12:29] Natalie Jennings: He's are fun. This is fun.

[0:12:32] Audrey Nicole: This is fun. This is always fun. So. Thank you, Audrey. You can follow Audrey and myself, Audrey Nicole, photography on Instagram Photobiz help or Jennings photo. And you can write to us, too. We want to hear from you. We want to build this community, so helpdesk@photobizhp.com. Okay, see you next time.

[0:12:52] Natalie Jennings: Bye.