I was out on a location shoot last week. Someone asked me what kind of photography I did so I answered:
” I coach my clients to get emotionally ready to face the camera.”
And he asks:
“Oh, do you have a degree in psychology then?”
My answer?
“Hell, no”
And I was completely fine to say that I do not have any paper to prove that I can deliver the result. For the past nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of getting several fancy titles for which I had the goods to deliver what was needed, but really no official qualifications.
However, that isn’t the full story.
I went to a fancy high school, and an even fancier uni, where affluent elites sent their kids. But I was afraid of being found out at my high school because I came from a family of no wealth and I was living in a shadier part of Seoul in a small unit. I scored well enough to be accepted to that school by working my butt off. I attended the school, just like all the other kids, did okay, but deep down I felt like an imposter. I was afraid of what the other kids would think because, unlike them, I didn’t get picked up by a chauffeur-driven car each night.
Years later, I suddenly found myself in a foreign country where no one recognised my academic qualifications or the schools I went to. I went from elite uni graduate to nobody. Bang. The complete perspective change was all I needed to get over my imposter syndrome.
Is being being found out stopping you from being the face of your work?
What is it that you need to believe to change your perspective?
Are you willing to find out?
If you can get over that, what is going to be possible for you?
