Beyond the Magic: My issue with #communityovercompetition

Let me preface this by saying: I don't think there's anything wrong with "competitors" supporting each other. I truly don't. If you take the time out to peruse my blog, you'll see I'm an advocate for helping others. I share information here as I gather it and I genuinely love providing inspiration for others.

But here's the thing I don't like about the whole #communityovercompetition movement: it breeds entitlement. 

Particularly when it comes to sharing locations. If Photographer A sees Photographer B's session and is dying to know the location, Photographer A reaches out and asks for that information. Photographer B has two choices: share with Photographer A or don't. 

If Photographer B chooses the second option, suddenly they're the villain. They're seen as someone valuing competition over community. A parasite to the photography world who wants to keep all of their knowledge to themselves and doesn't want anyone else to succeed. Yes, this sounds dramatic but honestly, scrolling through comment threads and seeing people talk badly about photographers who don't broadcast the locations they use does read as a bit dramatic a lot of the time.

I guess my issue with this mindset is that along the way we've forgotten that no one owes us anything. NO ONE OWES US ANYTHING. If a photographer trekked 3 miles up a mountain on a muggy day to find that singular spot, who am I to demand they share that information with me when I put in not a single bit of legwork? Seriously. It's time to let the entitlement go. 

There's SO MUCH FREE INFO on the web. People will literally share what gear they shoot with, what time of day they like to shoot, how they cull, their editing software, how they prep for a shoot, what presets they use and how they tweak those presets.... just about everything.  But the moment someone dares to keep a location to themselves they don't value community.

I call BS.

I think it's time to let go of the entitlement and bring the #communityovercompeition movement back to its origins. Community over competition is about focusing on being a better servant to your community/clients versus focusing on snuffing out your competition. That's what the original movement is based on. It's SO much deeper than not sharing locations, y'all.

To read more about what exactly the focus of #communityovercompetition is about, check out this article. 

Let's focus more on what's important and less on the little things. Let's drop the entitlement and put in the work. 

How do you feel about the #communityovercompetition movement? Do you feel like it's veered away from its original cause? Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear your viewpoint!