Beyond the Frame 84/
What does confidence look like – in photography and elsewhere – and what can we do when self-belief seems elusive?
Confidence in photography (and life)
Riding the rattling rails of the Bamboo Train on a rickety, home-made ‘norry’ train requires steady balance and supreme confidence.
I’m sure we would all like to surf through our lives displaying the same level of poise as Thean, my Cambodian guide. But well-balanced confidence can sometimes be elusive, in photography as much as in any other aspect of life.
Photographer Zed Nelson puts it in a way that I recognise.
“Taking photographs can be an uncomfortable process for any photographer. It takes lots of practice. The more you do it, the easier it gets, but it never stops being difficult. You have to psyche yourself up and get yourself in the right frame of mind. Tell yourself, ‘Today I work. Today I am a photographer.’”
– Zed Nelson
I believe that the ability to put yourself in a positive mental space is as much a part of the job as understanding apertures and shutter speeds.
However, as I was reminded this week, creating that positive mental space is not always a straightforward process and nagging self-doubt can creep in if we’re not vigilant.
A crisis of confidence
Presented with an offer to contribute to a new project, I found myself in two minds. The invitation was appealing and I was pleased to receive it. But after considering it for a couple of days, I realised I’d been talking myself out of accepting.
“I don’t have exactly the right gear for this job.”
“I don’t really have the necessary experience.”
“I’m not sure I can deliver exactly what’s expected.”
I don’t know what caused my confidence to drop. I actually do have the right gear, and the relevant experience. And my experience tells me that a straightforward conversation would help define exactly what’s expected, dissolving any uncertainty.
It’s just a fact of life that our confidence can ebb and flow. On some days we might feel invincible, but mostly we’re dealing with varying levels of self-doubt, doing our best not to talk ourselves out of opportunities.
Fear of failure is a powerful emotion. It can sink opportunities before we’ve fully explored them. I expect most of us have fallen victim to that self-sabotaging inner voice from time to time. It’s an over-enthusiastic form of self-protection that doesn’t know when to stay quiet.
Nobody is immune from self-doubt
Ami Vitale, five-time World Press Photo winner, is a widely-admired and successful photographer. Yet she readily admits that her confidence can waver and has described herself as “The Queen of self-doubt”.
“My way to combat these anxieties is to confront them head on. I push myself to cover topics that are so different from what I did in the past. I embrace new technologies even though I’m not a great lover of the technical. Embracing what is new and scares me the most liberates me. I know there will be some failures, but you end up figuring out how to adapt and learn.”
– Ami Vitale
A never-ending battle?
Perhaps confidence is not the absence of fear – but rather a nodding acknowledgement that our insecurities can be defeated with thoughtful preparation? Like an actor prone to stage-fright, if we research our subject, understand our motivations and rehearse our lines, are we more likely to perform well?
Does this resonate with you? How and when does self-confidence show up for you? I’d love to know – and expect other readers would appreciate it too. If you’re inclined, add a sentence or two in the comments.
What does confidence look like?
Swayed by my curiosity, I’ve installed an AI plug-in into my photo archive. It analyses the images and will, supposedly, offer appropriate captions and keywords.
It took just a few hours to map many hundreds of thousands of image files. The results are impressive/worrying, depending on your perspective.
When asked to search my archive for images illustrating “confidence”, the AI successfully returned many portraits where people have adopted confident poses, sometimes intentionally, often not.
(If you’d like to see more photos of Raj – and why wouldn’t you – he also appears in Beyond the Frame 65/.)
Getty Stock Photos
The images found by the AI search of my archive are not dissimilar to the first page of stock photos returned when searching for “confidence” on the Getty Images website.
Interestingly, 90% of the images returned in my AI search – and also in the Getty search – are of women. Why would that be? Do women naturally appear more confident than men in photos? I can’t think of a good reason why there would be such a significant disparity. But I’m pleased that the result wasn’t reversed. We have enough confident men already, thank you.
What I can say with confidence…
…is that self-belief isn’t something we either possess or we don’t. It fluctuates, comes and goes at unpredictable times. I know it can be built with careful preparation but it’s always a work-in-progress. Perhaps the best approach is to stay curious about what fuels confidence and what erodes it – and be generous with ourselves when it begins to falter.
“When you learn to trust yourself implicitly, you no longer need to prove something through your art. You simply allow it to come out, to be as it is. This is when creating art becomes effortless. It happens just as you grow your hair. It grows.”
– John Daido Loori
Beyond the Frame Recommendations
Articles, documentaries, exhibitions, podcasts and more.
☆ Read – A Confident Mind by Nate Zinsser
Dr. Zinsser is the ‘confidence-whisperer’ who teaches high-ranking military personnel to build self-belief. Learn more about his approach in a no-nonsense interview in The Observer.
❖ See – Portrait of Britain 2025 Winners
The Portrait of Britain photography contest rarely disappoints. Announced this week, the winners provide “an opportunity to rejoice in the diversity of a changing nation.”
◉ Listen – Glass Beams
I am unable to resist the temptation to share this Glass Beams live performance (contrary to my editor’s strong advice against doing so). I was listening to the Glass Beams Mahal EP as I wrote this edition, hence the toe-tapping, funky-fusion vibe you’re feeling 😬 Don’t ask me to explain it. I can’t. But I like it.
✤ Create
A series of creative prompts, inspired by Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, and designed with photographers in mind.
Read more about the concept and learn how to use my Oblique Strategies for Photographers.
And finally…
My friends at Shotkit have reminded me that it’s time to update my feature. It’s been more than ten years since I last listed my gear. As you’ll see if you compare my current setup (below) with the gear I was carrying in 2015, I have managed to reduce it a little.
It’s going to be 34ºC in Bangkok today – and looks set to remain that way for the rest of the month. I had been hoping for some cooler days in the run-up to the Thai general election on the 8th of February but it seems destined to be hot and steamy - the weather and election both!
Wherever you are and whatever you have planned this week, stay cool – and confident.
Until next time, go well.
I was surprised to learn that a friend of mine, who plays for a symphonic orchestra and is literally one of the best musicians in the country, still has to frequently deal with stage anxiety. Their advise for me was simple: "At any given time you'll have it (anxiety) or you won't. That might as well never change. Don't wait until you're free from it to share what you do with your audience, be an anxious artist. Join us. Some of the best are here."
The Ami Vitale quote about confronting anxieties headon cuts through alot of fluff around confidence. Treating it as something you can rehearse rather than possess makes way more sense when dealing with actual projects. That oblique strategies reference is perfect too since sometimes the best confidence move is indirection, showing up to work instead of trying to manufacture feeling ready.