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“If there is one key thing I could convey to anyone reading this is to hustle. You will never be prepared for the things you are capable of doing. You will achieve your greatest accomplishments not by building up a grand framework of skill and then deftly creating something glorious, but by starting small and persevering in making it better and better. It is never an easy road and you will gain a grand framework of skills, but you have to push your boundaries to grow.”

–Programmer and blogger Matt Nowack

I ran across this quote today and it got me to thinking. Yes, if you want to improve your photography, or any endeavor, you must hustle.

Start small, make it better and better. Persevere.

Sage advice.

When I first got started in serious photography, the issue I always was faced with was how to make the image better. I could never make it happen all at once. It took time, lots of time, lots of experimentation, lots of failures, lots and lots and lots of hours. But I persisted. I had learned, as Matt says, to hustle.

Young Hyena

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Years ago, I had occasion to exchange a number of e-mail messages with Nick Brandt.  Nick, in my opinion, without exception, is the best wildlife photographer in the world. He told me that it took him months and months of going from one gallery to the next to finally get one to display his works.  He never gave up, he persisted.  Many of the galleries that turned him down, now solicit works from him, much to his delight. Today he is highly successful and lives the life he always wanted to live, simply because he never once thought that he could not succeed.

Nick learned to push his boundaries.

In the last five years, the whole arena of photography has changed.  Two decades ago, there were a few photographers who dominated the market.  They were sought after by major publications.  Today there are thousands and thousands of photographers in the market place.

Making a decent living doing photography is very tough in today’s world, the competition has become extraordinary.

Yet I see so many young photographers who are finding their way through the competition and succeeding.  One of my favorites is C.S.Ling, a 25-year-old who lives in Singapore.  I love her lust for life.  Her approach was to make a list of things she wanted to do, her list contains 94 items.  So far, she has done 17 of them.  I have no doubt she will do all 94 things on her list.  She is totally committed and persistent.  And along the way, her photographic work has been highly successful.  I love her most recent quotation:  “Learning without thought is labor lost.” ~Confucius

I suppose that how you measure up in life depends upon the scale you choose to use.

And it means you have to do it.  As a very close friend often reminds me:  “If you don’t go, you won’t get it.”

To achieve you have to get out there.

Ireland Bow

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Too many give up, or simply don’t try to improve.  Any endeavor, whatever it may be, can result in the mediocre, or in the extraordinary.  The one element that makes the difference is persistence — learning, trying and trying, and doing it all over again and again.

Bear on Beach

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So, today, I am grateful to read the words of Matt Nowack — as he says: “Get out there and hustle, learn something new, do something that scares you, reach beyond your grasp.”

His words remind me of what my father said to me many, many times:

If a task is once begun

never leave it until it’s done

be the labor great or small

do it well, or not at all.