I have been told more times than I can count that I am very talented at photography. I was told I was a very gifted artist when I was still regularly practicing the fine arts of drawing and painting, and I have been told I have a very creative mind a time or two as well. But the truth is I am not a gifted artist, I am not talented at photography, and I do not have a very creative mind, I worked very, very hard to have people tell me those things.

Work is the keyword here.

I have been asked a lot about how I have become a photographer, and how I have found success. I have been asked to spill my secrets so someone else can replicate my career. No one seems to believe me when I say it was a lot of hard work, a little luck, and a bunch of networking plus having a job helped me not burn myself out on photography.

I wasn’t a born photographer. I wasn’t a born artist. I practiced, I practice a lot.

When I became interested in the arts I was 8 years old and all I remember is hours with sketchbooks in my hands, years of art study, and classes that paid off in pretty good artistic skill. But then I took up photography and I was decent out of the gate because of my many, many, many years of art study— after all, photography is just an art with a technical component.

But my eye for art didn’t mean the technical ability to make photographs was easy for me or that my photography was good immediately. I have spent over a decade becoming a better photographer and there is still a lot to learn and a lot of room for improvement. I know this because even looking back at images I have taken just a few months ago I see the flaws and inherently know they aren’t what they could have been because I have changed and grown, I have new ideas, or new things I want to try.

A photographer is made. Not born.

So put in the work, and do not look for shortcuts. Anyone can be a successful photographer if they are willing to put the effort in.