We were lucky to catch up with Josh Stewart recently and have shared our conversation below.
Josh, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I think a better way to put it is “how do I manage imposter syndrome?”. It still rears it’s ugly head on occasion. For me it comes from being relatively new to photography. A lot of photographers say they grew up with a camera in their hands. But I didn’t get my first camera until I was 25 years old. I had no interest in photography until I received a Canon Rebel as a Christmas gift one year. It was an expensive gift so I felt like I should put it to good use and looked up some tutorials online. Then I started going out every night after working my pharmacy job and practicing with the camera. Over time people more and more people told me my photos looked good, but I had a hard time believing it. It wasn’t until after my photos had been featured in magazines and on the photoshop instagram account that I started to believe I was doing something right. The process started all over again when I decided to try my hand at portraiture a couple of years ago. I had learned to shoot landscapes, but portraits were a whole new thing and a lot of the stuff I had learned was backwards from how you’re supposed to shoot portraits. I was basically starting over and so the imposter syndrome that had mostly become quiet came back. Only through putting myself in high pressure situations did I mostly overcome it. Shooting weddings is stressful when you’re new to portraits. You have one shot and the clients are paying you good money to get it right. It’s been 2 years of me shooting weddings and family portraits and the imposter syndrome is just now quieting down. I think the only way to overcome imposter syndrome is accidentally. You keep trusting yourself and taking risks. Eventually you get to a place where you don’t feel as nervous as you used to. And you start to believe you may actually know what you’re doing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m Josh Stewart and I am a photographer located in Tybee Island, Georgia. I shoot family portraits, weddings, and sometimes real estate, For fun I also do landscape photography. For the past 7 years I’ve been shooting non-stop. If I’m not photographing for business reasons, then I’m out on the beach capturing the beauty of nature. Needless to say, I love what I do. Whether I’m behind the camera or at the computer my heart and soul are going into it, no matter what it is.
I’m in this line of work because I love it and embrace the challenge. I simply want produce the best work possible with each and every click of the shutter.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Self discipline has been the most important skill . It takes a lot of practice in that to keep be able to keep going even when you’ve been 3 months straight without a day off and you’re completely burnt out. Learning to make connections with people is also very important. That was the hardest for me, personally. I am a naturally shy person and on the far end of the introvert spectrum. Talking to people, especially those I had never met before, was not a skill I had. But over time, after forcing myself to do it over and over again, I learned how to get past my shyness and developed a joy in connecting with people during photo shoots. It makes the photos look much better too.
And finally, time management. When you have several shoots over the course of a couple of days things start getting backed up. And then that problem gets amplified during busy weeks when you have multiple shoots every day. Developing the skill to manage your time so you can both get all of your past shoots edited while also continuing to do more shoots. Learning that you have to wake up early and go to bed late sometimes just to make it all work is hard, but becomes a lot easier when you learn to manage your time well.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
While this year has been the busiest for me yet, I am noticing less people vacationing on the island. Which means less customers overall. This past July 4th, which is normally the craziest day of the year her on Tybee Island, was the slowest I have seen since I moved here 8 years ago. As a small business owner in a vacation destination, seeing less potential clients walking around is a scary thing. From what I understand most photographers around here are the same boat. There are less weddings this year, less families coming down for vacation, and even less real estate shoots. It’s a scary time to be a small business owner.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joshontybee.com
- Instagram: @joshontybee
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshontybee
Image Credits
Josh Stewart
