Pangburn Photography: Blog

An Effort In Honesty

Having a business blog is sometimes hard, because there's always this line in the sand. You know the line that if you cross it suddenly you are in the TMI zone. A zone most business bloggers avoid like the plague. Apparently it's not very professional to openly proclaim to the world "I got a zit on the tip of my nose the other day that just won't go away and it's driving me freaking crazy" (which is true by the way).

This alone is where a problem arises for me.

Because I live in the TMI zone. Honestly you can ask any of my friends and probably 99% of them will tell you this. Part of me likes to be prideful about it, like I'm just a really honest person... shouldn't everybody be comfortable sharing their deepest darkest secrets with total strangers? And then the other part of me sees that maybe this isn't the most admirable quality at times. Don't get me wrong, I'm not George Washington or anything.... although I really do suck at lying. Seriously, I am horrible at it if truth be told. I can't even play the card game BS without having to smile and giggle the ENTIRE game so nobody can tell when I actually have something. I'm just not very good at it.

So trying to keep a business blog is a bit of a conundrum for me. I can't even tell you how many posts I've written, almost posted and then had my brain kick in right before I pushed the publish button telling me that this isn't the place for that kind of thing.

So this leaves me with a question.... What exactly is this place for!?

Throughout the years I'm been the type of person who does things because she thinks she SHOULD do them, because that's what's EXPECTED of her and to be quite frank, because that's what everybody else said was the right thing to do.

But lately I've come to the profound conclusion that I am not like everybody else. This should have been clear to me way back when I was learning to count and would always count the beans spastically: one (bean on the top right), two (bean on the bottom middle), three (bean on the top left).... you get the picture. This frustrated my mother to no end (since she is a big supporter of counting things methodically in a sensible order). She kept wanting me to get the wrong number in the end to prove to me how flawed my bean counting method was. But in the end I would always get the right number, every time. This should have been my first big clue that my brain just isn't wired the same as everybody else's. And should have also taught me that even though my method was different I got the right outcome in the end. So I'm not sure why it's taken me so many years of my life to realize this about myself. And more than realize it, but actually embrace it, love it, and tell it... "you know... you seem a bit crazy but I think we might actually get along pretty well."

So.... from now on I'm going to pursue honesty and authenticity. Because in the end isn't that what makes us all unique individuals instead of duplicate drones of each other?

So in an effort for honesty I am starting here with my blog. And I honestly don't care if it's unprofessional, because that's not the reason I do what I do. I love photography because I love getting to photograph who people really are, their stories, their joys, their personalties. I love being able to look inside of another human being and put into an image what I find there so that everybody else can see it too. In the end what I do is about relationships, real ones. It's not about putting on a false front for people so they'll think I'm cool (because I am the dorkiest person out there much of the time).

So the buck stops here. If that means some people won't hire me because I mentioned having a zit on my nose, so be it.

I have no idea how to end this rambling post so I'll leave you with a quote from my good friend Dr. Suess who I think sums this all up rather well.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

-Dr. Suess