How to Succeed in Commercial Photography : Insights From a Leading Consultant

CHAPTER11 / THEGIFT OFCHOICE

provide you an opportunity to work on a prestigious account,

and, in addition, it offers an opportunity for you to creatively

stretch. You are excited as you realize that the fees you invoice

will buy you the new digital system that you have been dreaming

of. The job is two weeks away and, as it is a substantial shoot, you

have begun preproduction meetings with your team; everyone is

ready to roll. Then the phone call comes in and the project is

shelved. You’re not told exactly why, but you are told to invoice

for all kill fees.

You are immediately thrown. Your thoughts turn to the

money you feel you lost and the equipment that you had “men-

tally purchased.” You further despair as you remind yourself

that this job offered you an opportunity to be a creative partner

and that’s lost too. Your thoughts generate feelings and you

begin to experience disappointment, anger, and frustration.

You start to experience a loss of power, and you feel that none

of what happened was in your control.

While you are right that you could not control the fact that

the shoot was cancelled, the reality is that the “outcome” is not

the cancellation of the shoot. Rather, the outcome, the final

piece of the puzzle, is how you choose to respond. It is here that

you have total choice.

You can begin to take your power back simply by redirect-

ing your thoughts. You can choose to react to the news by con-

tinuing to attach to your negative feelings, or you can choose

to see your thoughts and experience your feelings but not

attach to them, choosing instead to say, “It would have been

nice if this job had come through as planned but clearly that

was not to be.” Then immediately move on to another activity.

If you do this, you are then creating closure on your own

terms.

The words “wouldn’t it be nice if ” truly shift the energy

toward peace and away from anger and fear.

They have a special power that can be clearly experienced.

It may take a few times of going through this exercise before

you see and feel the effects, but life as we know it will certainly

provide plenty of opportunity for practice.

While you are practicing how to observe your thoughts and

recognize your feelings, do not attachto them. Remember that

it is the attachment to negative thoughts and feelings that adds

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