We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brittany Hicken a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brittany, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.
It’s so easy to try and please everyone, and make decisions that will make the most people happy. However, I have learned that no matter what you do someone will get upset, people will have their opinions, wish you did it differently, or dislike what you did. I think there is definitely a balance between listening to people’s opinions and advice, taking genuine constructive criticism thoughtfully, and choosing to do what you think is best for you, and what will make you the happiest and will result in the outcome you ultimately want. I have had people vehemently disapprove of my current country-wide project, saying I’m insane for traveling the country alone, and that it’s a dumb project. Or that my long-term goals and dreams are too ambitious, everyone would love to do that, and good luck. I have certainly learned to pay attention to whose voices matter and are important to me, and which to drown out and go ahead with my plans anyway. I have come to realize that a lot of people speak from jealousy, they don’t want to see you succeed, because you’re doing something they couldn’t ever think of doing. Surrounding yourself with people who speak to truly uplift and support you is so vital. Being able to discern between the two is a significantly beneficial skill to develop, especially in the creative world where everything is subjective, and everyone has something to say.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m mainly focused on two things, maintaining and growing my real estate photography career and continuing my country-wide project, I have been doing real estate photography for a little over a year now working for a company, and I really want to be able to learn more about the market, network and find clients on my own while maintaining a relationship with the company I work for, and ultimately grow and improve in this area of photography given that it is one I would consider being a weaker spot for me since I have been a travel and landscape photographer for a majority of the time. It would definitely be a personal achievement to be able to consider myself a professional real estate photographer, and one that I am working towards.
At the same time, I am working on my personal project Panoramic United States Abstracted, and planning for this year’s trip. The most exciting part about it for me is watching it all come together with every finished panorama and gaining confidence every trip through meeting insanely cool people and having wild experiences to keep it going. As well as thinking about the end goal of a published book once I have reached every state, I get excited about planning and visualizing that. Even though it’s only three weeks out of the year, it makes my long-term goal of being a travel photographer for a living and working with National Geographic a little more feasible.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Try everything. Whatever that looks like for you in the area you work in or practice, try different things. For me, that was different areas of photography; as a confident landscape photographer, I was always afraid and awkward about doing portraits, engagements/weddings, products and foods, and in general very hesitant to try other areas. Whether it goes anywhere or not, trying it at least brings some level of confidence to what you can do, and saying you tried is better than never giving it a shot and never knowing the possibilities and opportunities it could have brought. That, and there isn’t ever anything wrong with learning something new and gaining new perspectives you wouldn’t have otherwise had. I never thought I could do real estate photography, so being where I am now is a little wild to think about sometimes.
Another is doing things despite fears. Fear of failure, fear of looking stupid or feeling awkward, not doing good enough. Do it or try it anyway. Do it scared. I have always been kind of a procrastinator because I can be quite a perfectionist, and so I sometimes can wait till I feel ready or have what I need, etc. because I want it to be absolutely perfect. But the problem with that is you’ll never be perfectly ready, and if you keep waiting you can just delay opportunities and experiences. So I have started to apply “do it scared” a lot. Because even if you feel you can’t do it or you won’t be good, you’ll learn and you’ll improve. And I think the majority of people are afraid of failing, completely ridding that feeling is easier said than done and that’s why I love the idea of just doing it while feeling that way.
I touched a little on it earlier, but being able to recognize the difference between genuine people who want to uplift you and support you in your career or journey, and people who speak from a place of jealousy and are hesitant because they don’t want to see you succeed is incredibly important. Because while I believe listening to yourself is number one, having a group of people who can bring you confidence and love, and help when you need it is just as significant because you can’t do everything alone. And knowing whose voices to give importance and authority to is pretty necessary because whoever’s opinions and advices you allow to have weight will affect you ultimately.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Absolutely! I love meeting and working with new people; I’d thoroughly enjoy collaborating with anyone needing a photographer for anything – other artists, other photographers, or anyone in need for events, products, or specific types of content I’d love to chat about it, I can shoot just about anything! The best way to connect would be to email me at [email protected] or DM me on Instagram @brittany.hicken.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bhphotography.net/
- Instagram: brittany.hicken
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