finding direction

sand. tulum, mexico.
© kevin t vu

i’ve been reading the book outliers by malcolm gladwell. its been a catharsis for my own self-reflection and how i see the road ahead of me. i’m only a thirds way through, but in it, he explains the circumstances by which one becomes an ‘outlier’ (ie. hugely famous/successful). he further goes into it by describing that many successful people have an average of 10,000 hours, roughly ten years, of hard work and dedication in their respective fields.

first, i wonder to myself, do i have the skill set, timing and circumstances to become a successful photographer? and second, looking at my own experience, starting w/ london and my graduate work which was ’07. and it now being days away to ’09. the realization that i have 8 more years, if i survive that amount of time, and then maybe…. maybe i’ll be a successful photographer, can be a bit daunting to swallow.

“SUCCESS IS A FUNCTION OF PERSISTENCE AND DOGGEDNESS, AND THE WILLINGNESS TO WORK HARD FOR 22 MINUTES, TO MAKE SENSE OF SOMETHING THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD GIVE UP ON AFTER 30 SECONDS.” – malcolm gladwell