I have been struggling to understand why I have been so lucky with my photography in such a short time. I feel that I have cheated the system as there are better photographers out there with less attention on Google+. I have been placed on a Suggested Users List (SUL) by Google. The first SUL I was placed on was the Australian SUL over a year ago and that helped increase my follower numbers from 20,000 to 57,000. Now I have been placed on yet another SUL and seen my numbers more than double in 11 days to 126,000+. Then to top it off today I had a comment from Rick Sammon (a well known photographer in the USA and Canon Ambassador) saying "You are very, very good!". For a brief moment I thought I might be, until the self doubt kicked back in. I guess if I look back and piece all the puzzles together (previous compliments and achievements) the first time I sold images to someone who use to work for Peter Lik (an Aussie photographer now living the high life in the USA selling images worth over $10,000) saying he couldn't see the difference between his work and mine. This commenter was a dentist and not an optometrist so that might be the reason. Lol. Then there's the success on Google+ and being double featured in an onOne Software blog (a major photography editing software company).
So the question is, why do I find myself still doubting my abilities as a photographer? I hope as time goes on I will feel more confident in my abilities... I hope, as it's probably holding me back.
On a lighter note this image was taken during the recent International Fleet Review in Sydney captured through a dirty window in the Shangri-La Hotel. This was the image that Rick commented on.
