I’m teaching a Video for Photographers class for the full time students at the New England School of Photography. This class is their first introduction to video editing using Adobe Premiere Pro. This software is overwhelming for just about everyone. It has a lot of moving parts, it requires the user to be organized, and there are a variety of ways to achieve the same result.

A lot of four letter words get used. Most people want to quit, question their life choices, and figure out ways to avoid using the video in their career. After wrestling with editing a single clip for several hours, something clicks and it isn’t so bad. What was previously considered an obstacle has become a creative opportunity.

Learning a new thing can be difficult. It makes you vulnerable. It requires asking for help. Mistakes are made, you have to start over and ask for more help. That learning process has a lot of shame (fear of what others think) attached to it. These things are not valued in modern society, but are at the center of what makes us human.

A lot of energy gets wasted avoiding the learning process.

There is that wonderful scene in the Matrix where the main character gets all knowledge of martial arts uploaded to his brain and announces “I know Kung-Fu.” I don’t think there was a person in the audience who saw that and didn’t think “Cool.”

Some ideas to keep in mind:

The difference between learning and play is expectations.

Negative response to new opportunity is normal and can be overcome. We have more brain cells dedicated to self-protection than is worth mentioning.

You can still learn something even if you feel frustrated and anxious.

The best way to really learn something is to share what you just learned with someone else in the same boat. The paradoxical statement “You only get to keep what you freely give away.” is true.

There is no need to apologize for being curious.

Don’t hate on the part of you that goes negative, it’s just doing its job and needs a little love and direction.





