Cassie Jones Photography

In a world of social media, its much easier these days to be heard.  To share your opinion.  To say what “needs” to be said.  To see what others are saying. To learn. To be inspired.  To see what others are doing.  And to pretend.  To be something that you’re not.

I got a call yesterday that made my heart nearly stop beating, scream, and fall into a puddle into the floor.  I was completely unprepared. The situation was completely unexpected.  I never dreamed this would happen to me.  The person on the other end of the line told me they had some bad news.  I could tell from the shake in their voice it wasn’t going to be good.  I got that worried feeling in the pit of my stomach as they told me to go to a website. I opened up the laptop sitting on the kitchen table and typed in the web address.  Instantly, I knew, as the splash page came up what it was that I was looking at.  Images so familiar to me I could pick them out in any crowd.  Artwork so close to my heart that I remember smiling behind the camera when I pressed the shutter, knowing I’d captured the “perfect moment”. I look at these images and remember exactly how I felt when watching two people vow their lives to one another.  I remember that smile on her face that was so luminous not even a camera can correctly depict the way she was shining that day.

It was my work.  On someone else’s website.

I’d always thought I’d be mad if this happened to me.  But what little anger I truly felt came second to a hurt that is almost indescribable. I felt robbed.  Violated.  Much like how I suspect people feel when they’ve found an intruder in their home — because that place, just like my artwork is sacred to me.  It’s mine and only mine.  Cannot be recreated.  Cannot be reproduced.  Not one person in the world can see the things exactly as I do and yet here they sit, claimed by someone else.  Stolen.  The couple’s special story, reduced to none other than an object placed to gain attention.  It was a gut-wrenching feeling.

I called her. (And I say this here and now, because I know your mind is reeling — “who was it? Do I know them?” — I’m not sharing their name.  Please don’t message me later and ask because the who isn’t important.  It’s the why that I’m sharing today.) She was honest about it. Confessed what she’d did and said she knew it was wrong.  She knew on no uncertain terms that things like this if let loose in our world of social media can end a person’s career– Photographers seem to be overly passionate about sharing their opinions on twitter and facebook about other’s mistakes.  She said, “I just wanted to be a superstar.”

I kindly reminded her of a similar incident last year.  Many in fact, still whisper the names of the people involved as a “remember when x stole those images from y and it would up on national news?”  Well, that is not the kind of famous that you want to be.

Wanting to be a superstar isn’t wrong.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want my name right there along those other girls with speaking platforms at WPPI.  I’m the first to say that I’d love that kind of opportunity to help people.  But if I become well-known to our industry, I want it to be because of service.  And if I never am– I know I am a superstar to the clients I serve right here. And that’s good enough for me.

Don’t be so focused on “superstardom” that honesty comes second to fame.  David Jay once gave me a great piece of advice. He quoted his dad in saying, “if you truly make your business about serving others, you’ll never run out of work.”

And why, Industry are you teaching photographers to be about self?  That the image of success is first to be a superstar?  I assure you.  It’s backwards.  Clients could care less if you’re known to your industry.  Clients have NO IDEA who you are to other people.  The only thing that matters is who you are to them.

Serving others is what makes you successful.  You don’t become a superstar by humiliating others on facebook and twitter for their mistakes.  You don’t become a susperstar by chumming it up with big names while you’re in Vegas at WPPI.  You become a superstar to the only people that matter by using your God given talent to help them. If you’re going to be a superstar, let it be because you stood out among the rest because of your kind and gentle spirit.  Your giving and joyful heart.  Your faith when things get rough and your perserverence when the dream seems impossible.

So. You want to be a superstar? Then go serve others before yourself.  Don’t acquire fame by degrading others.  By taking other’s hard work and objectifying it.  By using your time to puff yourself up in forums and online.  Come by superstardom for your good works — and if you don’t acquire fame by them, remember that you already are famous to those who you did them for.  And be happy with that. For the right kind of superstardom very rarely comes with fame — it comes with joy-filled and happy serving heart.  A life worth living and remembering.

And because a post just isn’t a post without an image, here’s one that our friend Reid from Orange Photographie of Montana took of us this past weekend — a sneak peek at what’s coming later this week.