October 30, 2026
What Voices Do You Hear in Your Head?
I recently asked a friend how things were going with her camera club. She had been trying to move them away from competitions and critiques and towards personally expressive photography, and her response was:
Oh yeah, I left the club last year and have no desire to return.
FREEDOM works for me! I still hear in my head, “The judges won’t like it,” and “It’s not a ‘banger.” But it’s just a little fly that I swat away.
I don’t even enter gallery shows anymore. I use my website to have shows. I honestly have no desire to be judged or “win” against anyone else AT ALL.
Many of us have these “voices” that tell us how we should pursue our photography. Here are some common ones:
You need to follow the rules of composition.
You need to follow how your instructor/mentor taught you to photograph.
Copy what you’ve seen others do, who were successful.
If you want to win, you know what your camera club judge likes.
Make this a banger so it will do well on Instagram.
Listening to voices that focus on rules and likes, is the exact opposite of listening to our Vision. And the more we listen to those voices, the weaker our Vision becomes, because it’s not being used. It atrophies and eventually will disappear, leaving us to believe that we do not have a Vision.
And sometimes the voices get very personal:
Your not creative.
Everyone else is better than you.
You’re an imposter.
You’ll never be as good as John Barclay!
We all hear these voices at one time or another, we cannot stop what enters our head, but we do not have to believe them!
How do we get to the point that we can treat them like a little fly and swat them away, like my friend does? I fight them by developing a deep sense of my Vision: I know who I am, I know how I see, and I know why I create.
My goal is not to create great images, but to create honest images. I view my images as diary entries and I judge them by how honest they are. (You can read about my definition of honest work in my blog post “Creating Honest Work.”)
This sense of self (Vision), gives me great confidence and allows me to swat away those pesky voices, and over time I hear them less and less.
What voices do you hear and how do you exorcise them?
We’re working hard at changing the culture of Wichita Area Camera from competition to expression. I like the quotes on your posts, I copy them and put them on our major emailing’s. We’re looking forward to your presentation in April.
We always seem to be thinking about issues that coincide. And I almost always agree with your thoughts, although for ANYONE to feel they can never be as good as John Barclay stretches credibility!! I’m just completing a Substack post on breaking rules. Keep up the good work Cole.
I’m involved with one local group of creatives, it’s open to all media, to include painting, sculpture, spoken word, etc. But probably 60% photography.
It’s energizing to be around such a positive and grounded group of artists.
A real pleasure after years of searching local groups that were mainly travel and snapshots to discover artists working with ideas and honest experiment.
I hear music. I take images and hear music as I walk around. When I’m editing, the music becomes clearer. The two go together as one. When I’m happy with the two coming together as a finished product I am satisfied. Waterways was totally Jekyll Island bridge.
I had total vision in visual and sound.
So that’s my take on this question.
hot d@mn! another member of our group. Exactly the attitude i’m working on. What we discussed at length at the retreat & you & I have discussed separately. Makes me smile & cry at the same time! [there are those heightened emotions we’ve texted about. 🙂 ]
Very interesting read. I’d however suggest that competitions and personally expressive photography are not mutually exclusive. However with competitions there can be a tendency for photographers to cater for a particular style that’s usually not their language. Photography is what we do for ourselves so all about one’s own learning and development, not copying or imitating to please others. Photography is highly subjective so back yourself and be respectful of the opinion of judges at competitions. Does not mean that a judge is right.
There is nobody else in my head but myself. I listen to the inner me. You can’t do original work listening to anyone but yourself. But, I think you may have to go through the camera club/competition BS before you do listen to your inner voice.
Over the years I’ve heard many of the same voices you described, then they began to be quieter. They aren’t silent, but as I moved closer to the day I knew I had already found my vision and had been overthinking what it was, I found a sense of freedom and calm. The voices started to go away because I started to photograph how I wanted to photograph and not worry about all the rest. Even left all social media. As that was happening, I realized that my photographic vision was bleeding over into other parts of my life, such as in the way I am redesigning a garden and removing plants that others would gasp at, but doing so carries out my garden vision and that’s what is important. It’s freedom, and maybe the realization that I had found my vision is what made the “don’t do this or that” voices go quiet and made room for the voices that now say “what if”.
I belong to a camera club that does not host competitions; only field trips and speaker nights. I do belong to a local art league which juries in photos. Most of the time, I get in; I’ve received 3 awards to date; a couple times I didn’t get in. The images are being judged by painters or watercolorists not photographers. I just shrug and assume the painter does not know how to look at a photo or maybe s/he just didn’t like my image. I do photography for fun, to learn new ways to use my camera, to document a trip or workshop. No pressure, no self-criticism, no others’ likes, just creative fun.
Great advice! Likewise, I left my camera club many years ago. I haven’t regretted it. Now I only listen to the voices in my head. That’s confusing enough!
My photography consists exclusively of images I make when I see something that catches my eye I study it for awhile or just shoot it as is. No rhyme or reason. Just what interested me at the moment. Single images that I like. I’m not digital but have started learning how to change them into digital negatives to print as an alternative process. Bromoil and oil prints mainly.
Since , I stopped listening to others opinions.I don’t hear the voices.Something , I have been thinking about
Is “sharpness” Is it REALLY that important, considering
That our eyes don’t see front to back sharpness. Is it all that important .I don’t think sharpness is that important actual or perceptual.I think everything is personal choice and objective your thoughts
First off! I have no desire to be John Barclay. I’m myself. Or as my wife says I am stubborn and obstinate, so I don’t want to imitate someone else. To that I agree. I have no desire to go and photograph where and like Ansel Adam’s. I want to photograph what I want and am able to, that wildlife close by and still life’s that I set up. As to the voices I don’t listen to them much either, they say don’t center your subject, if that’s where it fits it goes there. So maybe I am obstinate a little.
I know I have found “my vision” because I photograph what I want, when I want and it only has to please me. I rarely post to social media; however, I look at others work because I enjoy their images. I try very hard not to copy a “style” because I want the image to come from me. I hope this makes sense.
Tough to break away from others’ opinion but i’m making good progress. Right now i’m using my vision in mexico for dios de los muertos.
Our camera club added a “Non-compete” section, and it has become popular. People can just get some feedback without the need to fit a category, style or need to win.
Someone above mentioned they view their images as a diary. I also view mine that way.
I am a member of a camera club, for the social side of things. It’s interesting to see what pictures they are making. Sometimes I share my work and am amused at the shaking heads, and comments about that not doing well in a competition. I don’t enter competitions now at all. I love what I do. Forget what the club people and judges think. Find your own way, love your own creativity and importantly, enjoy yourselves.
I have never joined a camera club, I just want to take the pictures I like. Also I’m sure I will be told my old Pentax DLSR’s, which I enjoy using, are no good and I need the latest gear from brand XYZ.
Thought along the way…competitions? Yes or no..I love the idea of no competitions, but competitions have helped me to grow in technical skills which is important. They have helped me to become a better photographer. Although, I am starting to get annoyed by some critiques that miss the point or idea of my image!!
Sometimes, we do not need any instruction and just need to create and let be. Once you have the technical skill, just enjoy the ride and the creativity that follows. Just some thoughts…
Our camera club does a “critiique.” It is a evaluation not a criticism and there are no awards. We point out what we like about the image and perhaps something little that might be done to enhance the photo. We have a monthly theme based on the previous month’s program but no one has ever said “That doesn’t fit the theme!” For our professional group, although they are scored and we do award trophies it is much the same.
In my camera Club competition appears unfair: as the advanced a members must submit two images as “place holders” just to retain that rating! It places them at a disadvantage when compared to some others!
when the voices in my head beat me up, I go back to old images and find some that really inspire a good feeling, that ya..that’s alright. I like it and I’m okay with that!
Marilyn
Quite often the name of a painter is what a voice in my head says as I frame an image because what I’m seeing might be something similar to paintings by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollack, or Claude Monet. Don’t get me wrong though, photographer names are also heard, but mostly Eliot Porter.
Wonderful post. Left my club for similar reasons. Vision in the mind, rather than the eyes, is a useful, creative concept.
Great post. I enjoy photographing for me and don’t let others control how I should see (although trusted critique can be helpful). It took a long time to get to this point. I am represented by a gallery. But I am not pushed to create what may sell. If people by my work, I’m pleased they appreciate/share my vision, but it doesn’t dictate my direction. That is freeing.
I remember a talk by Paul Caponigro that has stayed with me. Talking about music and photography, he said that with music – it goes through the ears and directly to the heart. However with photography it has to go through the eyes and the eyes need to send the signal first through the brain, then to the heart. He then said we need to develop the ability of photographing more like music.
I think camera clubs can serve a purpose, having a like minded creative community is helpful for growth, but it also can be demonstrative and competitive. I looked at starting a club where I now live and found out there had been a club though it wasn’t well attended, yet when I asked why, I was met with a territorial stance and decided to not to pursue it. I now shoot with friends, no pressure, no competition, just good fun finding new locations and shooting them with like minded people.
Voices in my head!? Oh, jeezo this is not for public airing…. Photographically speaking I tend to live in a state of blissful ignorance. Quite liberating.