David duChemin: Dream big.

http://creativelive.com/courses/david_duchemin

You can dream as big as you want without ever having to worry, because this is a logistical issue of how big is my canvas. In your mind, that canvas can be as big as possible. I would say never allow that canvas to get smaller than it needs to be. Paint the biggest canvas in your mind you can, then be creative about how do I get a...

Maybe you start on a small canvas. There's nothing wrong with that. You start on a small canvas, and you go bankrupt, and this happens, and then this happens, and then suddenly you realize, "Oh that was the path to get me to a bigger canvas." We're very day-to-day people. We're like, "Oh my gosh, if I don't have things figured out by the end of today, it's never going to work." It's going to work.

It's just like your craft. Your craft is a lifetime. You can't judge the body of someone's work when they're 30 years old and just had a camera for two years. It's going to be a lifetime of discovering your journey and figuring it out so that in hindsight we look back and go, OK, that was the body of the work that they created.

It's the same way with our business models, and it's the same way with all of this stuff. We're in process, and it's always going to be a challenge. So I would suggest don't let the logistical stuff - because we've all got it. All of us have that, "Oh, if only I had a 300mm lens. If only I had that tilt-shift. If only I had..."

I've been a photographer 25 years. Finally, I bought a tilt-shift lens after 25 years, and I didn't buy it because I needed it. I bought it because it's a new aesthetic, and I want to play with it. I want to explore it.

But again, if you allow yourself to get in that spot where you think, "Oh, I can't create this unless I have this." Yes, there are technical constraints, and I know there are going to be all kinds of comments from the geeks that say, "But you absolutely need to have..."

I know. I get that, but don't let it stop you from dreaming and envisioning, and then figure out a way. Borrow the lens. Find someone who's got one. You can go in and buy one together. There's always a creative solution if it's that important. If your art is that important that it has to be done and you can't not do it, you will find a way, even if it means you go and work at Starbucks as a part-time job or whatever.

What we want is, "I want to create my art, but I want to do it conveniently. I want to change the world, but at no cost to myself." So ignore the one for now and focus on the other because, again, discovering your vision is not the same as expressing it.

Deal with expressing it when you get there. Deal with the constraints when you get there. For now, put them aside, because if you let all of that stuff you don't have cloud your thinking, you'll never get off the ground. You'll always be like, "Well, I can't do that, so then what dream can I dream is so small that I can possibly pull it off today?"

Who wants to dream small dreams? Dream the biggest dream you can and then worry about how you're going to pull it off once you've got a handle on what the dream is. But let the dream dictate it.

I know that sounds totally idealistic. It sounds totally pie in the sky, but you've got one life to live. You've got one kick at this. You're going to fail no matter what you do; you might as well try. Truly, even if you try to do the most mediocre thing, you're going to fail at least once, so why not try to do something amazing? At least if you fail, you go down trying. If you're going to fall off a bike, fall off a six-foot unicycle. At least you tried.

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