All language subtitles for 1.05 - Closing the Gap

So we just revealed two fundamental truths about

me and Erika.

We suck and we're a highly dysfunctional team.

Everything you've ever seen from us represents less

than 0.01% of our work.

The other 99.9% is full of

dysfunction and suckiness and averageness.

But there's something in that 0.1%

that's working because in the last decade our

inquiries have increased by a thousand percent.

Our rates have quadrupled, which is not to

say that our hourly wage has quadrupled.

Which is why, as we mentioned, even though

we're going to share everything about the business

side of our business, total open books with

that, it's not a business-focused course.

And like we've mentioned, it's not going to

be all f-stop this and shutter speed

that.

Because in our minds we are not technical

experts.

And we honestly feel like that has very

little to do with our progression.

So what we are focusing on is what

we are good at.

Or what we think we're good at.

And that's fooling the world by performing to

our potential.

Or actually by performing beyond our potential.

But if you really think about it, the

word potential, especially in the context of wedding

photography, the actual word potential is useless until

you turn that potential into performance.

And our performance as wedding photographers is only

partially rooted in our technical prowess.

Knowing how to use our cameras and our

lenses and our flashes is really important.

But once we get to a certain level,

our performance is not rooted in that.

Our performance is rooted in our psychological landscape.

It's rooted in our thought process.

It's rooted in our philosophy.

How we see the world.

How we see the world.

And how we show up to a wedding.

How we approach the wedding.

And how we approach photography.

That's where the magic is.

And that's the hardest thing to teach because

it's so undefinable.

But that's what we're going to spend this

week talking about.

Yeah, that's essentially what this whole journey is

about.

And Lanny and I are going to do

a lot of sports analogies.

Because as we mentioned in the intro, we

met at the National Track and Field Championships.

And sports analogies just help everything make more

sense.

Make sense in our brains.

Yeah.

So we actually think photographers in general are

a lot like athletes, right?

We pursue excellence in our craft.

That's the first thing.

And then the second thing is that we're

expected to perform when it counts, right?

On race day.

Like we don't get to decide when we

can be creative.

We have to show up on a wedding

day and perform on that specific day.

Much like a track runner on race day,

right?

So this is Hickam Algaruj.

Hickam Algaruj is not very famous, but he

really should be.

Because he's literally one of the greatest athletes

of all time.

He's a middle distance runner from Morocco.

And he posted one of the most outstanding

winning streaks of all time.

It was 1996 to 2004, right?

He won every single race in that eight

year span.

And he broke what, like 12 world records?

Or many world records.

I don't know the exact figure.

But in that eight year span, he didn't

lose any races except two.

And the two races he lost were the

Olympic finals when he had the entire weight

of the country on his shoulders, right?

So essentially he choked, right?

And the definition of choking is to lose

one's composure and fail to perform effectively during

a critical situation.

So another example closer to us as Canadians

was the Canada vs.

U.S. women's hockey game, gold medal game

at the Sochi Olympics.

We're Canadians.

Hockey's a big deal to us.

And the U.S. is our biggest rival.

So with five minutes left in the game,

the U.S. was up 3-1.

It was looking pretty dire.

And then we scored, bringing it 3-2.

And then- With two minutes left.

Two minutes left, we scored.

Something like two minutes left, yeah.

And then with less than 30 seconds left

in regulation play, we scored again, bringing it

into sudden death overtime where we scored and

we won the gold.

Now, I'm a little bit biased, but I

like to attribute at least part of this

win to one of their coaches that was

with them in the locker room going into

that third period.

And that happens to be their sports psychologist

who also happens to be my dad.

And if you look at this picture, you

can see the resemblance in the teeth.

I can thank him for these.

There's an important distinction to be made here

between sports psychology and regular psychology.

More traditional psychology takes a look at dysfunction

and how to turn dysfunction into normal functioning.

What sports psychology does is it goes all

the way over here, like way over here

to the other end of the spectrum.

And it looks at those that perform exceptionally,

those that are pursuing excellence in their craft

and succeeding.

And what is it that they're doing on

the inside that's allowing them to perform on

the outside?

So, we can learn a lot from this

field of sports psychology.

But it doesn't take a sports psychologist.

It doesn't take an expert to realize that

these upsets have little to do with skill

and preparation and performance.

And they have everything to do with what's

going on in our heads, right?

Everything that's happening up here.

And this idea of choking is no less

pervasive among wedding photographers, okay?

And you actually don't need to look any

further than Lanny and I.

Here's a photo of Lanny not performing to

his potential, okay?

During a very critical moment, I might add.

And I will also say I'm not performing

to my potential very much either here.

But this photo just cracks me up looking

at Lanny's face.

Like, he's panicking.

He's completely panicking.

Well, explain what was going on.

Well, yeah.

So, we had this wedding last, it was

a couple years ago.

And it was in Edmonton.

And we were sitting down eating dinner.

We thought it was a quiet time of

the day.

So, we decided to get some calories in

us.

And in the evening, DJ just decided he

wanted to get things moving along.

And so, with no warning whatsoever, he announced

the first dance, okay?

So, first dance comes on.

Lanny and I aren't prepared at all.

But we scramble.

We get ready.

Oh, no.

You weren't even there.

But I'll get to that in a second.

So, first dance comes on.

Then in the middle of the dance, the

music screeches to a halt.

And a bouncy castle inflates on the middle

of the dance floor.

So, the couple go from the first dance,

the first bounce.

And then they go to the garter toss,

the bouquet toss.

Immediately.

Yeah, immediately.

One after the other.

The cake cutting and the sparkler exit off

the back porch to a five-minute firework

display.

And this was all in the span of

like 10 minutes with no warning whatsoever.

And most of that time, I was outside

trying to get set up for the fireworks.

Oh, no.

Yeah, for the fireworks.

Yeah.

And then at one point, the door like

flew open and Erica's like, get the fuck

in here.

Yes, it was.

And it was, you know, I could have

handled that situation.

I've been in some...

But we didn't.

We didn't.

We messed up all kinds of stuff.

Messed up all sorts of stuff.

You know, I bumped my ISO up to

128,000 and didn't notice.

I forgot to turn my flash on and

didn't notice.

I seemingly forgot everything about what makes an

interesting composition.

I was just too jacked up to perform.

But I can handle those situations.

We choked.

We failed to perform to our potential, essentially.

Just like Hickam Algaruj and the U.S.

Women's Hockey team.

During those critical moments, something in us, we

were just too jacked up to perform.

But if you think about it, how many

critical moments do we come up against on

any given wedding day?

Twelve.

Hundreds, right?

It's the very nature of wedding photography.

And I'm not talking like the predictable scripted

moments, right?

Like the first kiss or the cake cutting

or the signing of the registry.

Those aren't the critical moments I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the critical moments that really

matter, right?

The glances, the touches, the surprises, right?

It's the very nature of what we do

with our cameras at weddings.

And so this disconnect between where our potential

is and where our performance resides is what

we think separates a lot of photographers, right?

There's the photographers that, you know, are incredibly

skilled, incredibly talented, and have all these creative

ideas, but they just seem to fall into

their safe zone every weekend, right?

They just seem to do what's comfortable, right?

And then there's the photographers that aren't necessarily

any more talented or any more skilled, but

they're able to get these amazing shots every

weekend.

And so what we're going to focus on

is how to close that gap between where

our potential is and where our performance resides,

right?

How do we close that gap so that

those things are closer together, right?

They'll never be matched, and we never want

them to be matched, right?

We always want our potential to be out

there, something for, you know, something to reach

for, right?

So how do we close this gap?

And there's something that Lanny and I realized

we were focusing on at every single wedding

that would help us close this gap between

our potential and performance.

And it's a really simple idea, and it's

an idea so simple it can be boiled

down to one word.

One word.

One word.

Starts with L.

It's four letters.

Rhymes with, rhymes with.

Okay, so luck.

That's the word.

So our motto has kind of become, if

you suck, rely on luck.

It's like what happened to my uncle Toby,

okay?

Toby was, he was a religious man, and

he prayed to God every day.

And he prayed to win the lottery.

God, please help me win the lottery.

And he did this day in and day

out religiously, and it never happened.

He never lost the faith.

He kept praying, and it never happened until

finally, after like 27 years of praying, the

clouds parted, and this voice boomed down from

above.

It was like, Toby, throw me a bone.

Buy a fucking ticket.

In photography, especially documentary photography, getting lucky is

not about praying to the photography gods.

It's about buying tickets.

Lots of them.

Your probability of hitting a home run improves

dramatically when you actually step up to the

plate and swing for the fence.

Show me any compelling photograph, and I can

show you how the photographer sought after and

capitalized on luck.

And this is not about hoping for accidental

luck, okay?

This is about consciously pursuing intentional luck, okay?

And it's an art that Erica and I

exploit every time we pick up our cameras.

Some of you are probably regretting your purchase

right now.

You're like, my God, what did I just

sign up to?

These guys are going to attribute all their

success to random luck and circumstance, but we're

not.

What we're going to do is show you

how not to leave creativity up to chance,

right?

And how to stack the cards in your

own deck so that when you show up

for a wedding day, you're setting yourself up

for success.