What if?

A friend has been encouraging me to start selling my photos online or locally.  I have thought and thought about doing this but something keeps holding me back from making that effort. I think the something is me, myself and I.   Am I good enough? Do I have a sufficient portfolio of photos that would be appealing to those that may want to buy?  I have 10,000's of photos! Some are pretty good; my mind says they might not be good enough.    Making a genuine portfolio of all my "best" work is a time consuming project.   How to choose..what kind of photo..are they good enough?   I don't over process my photos and I don't shoot in "raw".  I don't know what a slider is in Photoshop or Lightroom.  Does this make my photos different and am I missing out on high quality colors and sharpness because I don't want to change my photo from what I actually saw.

Lots to ponder.  My word for this year was accomplish. I have accomplished some things that were important to me..not big things..just little tweaks to make me a better photographer at the push of the shutter button.    Maybe I need to get that portfolio made so that I can "accomplish" something like selling prints.  It will be the first step in the process.  Making that first step is overcoming the most fear. I might end up with a nice portfolio to share on a website.  Or make my own website and blog.

Either way, take the first step.  Taking photos and sharing what I see..all the beauty, ugliness, colors, light, textures and everything else that makes me get that camera to my eye is what it is all about to me.  I can play around in the little free post processing software to make a flower a little special.

I changed this background and made it look different from the original..but it still has the same emotional connection for me that it did when I snapped it.   If a friend feels an emotion connection to a photo I have taken and wants a print, I will do that at no cost to them as that is just how I am.    Accepting payment for a print would probably make me feel that I am beyond amateur photographer which is a goal I may have to push to the top of my list to accomplish this year.

Me, myself and I have to take that first step.