Embrace failure, don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things, and don’t be so hard on yourself.

I think the advice I would give them would be not to give up, maybe it sounds like something very common but in the end life is about not giving up and art is not an exception. There will be difficult moments. Moments in which you will want to abandon everything but you must persist and hold on to your beliefs and what you want to achieve

Understand the ‘why’ for making your art. Not only will it increase your chances, but you will measure your own success by your own rubric, and not someone else’s. So when awards and competitions and residencies do not come, you understand if is not for the sake of them that you make.

Not everyone is cut out to be an artist. It depends on talent and ability. And prepare for a life of poverty. If you decide to go down this path, you must maintain a good attitude and belief.

Introduce yourself to people who are smarter and more talented than you and steal all their secrets. This will save time and you might even make friends. Consult people who you can trust to be honest when critiquing your work. Consuming a lot of art can help you to develop your personal taste, which is just as useful as developing your technique.

Creating art is a highly personal endeavor, and there's no single approach that will work for everyone. While it's important to draw inspiration from other artists, it's equally important to stay true to yourself and your own unique creative vision. Don't try to mimic other artists, instead embrace your own individual style, message, and creative processes.

If I were to give advice to other artists, I’d say have faith in yourself and your vision, and don’t be afraid to put the time in. Creating art takes dedication.

The art world you fall in love with in museums isn’t the one you live in. You’ll have to convince people that what you do is important–it doesn’t come in neatly packaged linear timelines with museum scholarship explaining your contributions. You’ll have to do the best you can to keep making work you think is important, and oftentimes this means making slow, steady progress towards your goals instead of burning out.

We are all at different points in our artistic journey and that is okay. Comparison is the killer of motivation and inspiration. Make time to celebrate your own successes no matter how small they may seem.

 I wanted to show there is quality of life after 90 years of age. My mother enjoyed the funny pages, drinking coffee from porcelain cups, she loved babies, her dog, knitting and sewing. I used the things she loved doing in this series, and I also did some paintings of her more somber moments. 

Speaking from experience, find a space to make work and dedicate as much time as you can to your art practice. While also setting aside some time to really research why you want to make the work and how it can help/affect others. Find your passion and what excites you on a deeper soul level, because chances are that's what your purpose is. Don’t let the opinion of others, including awards, steer you away from your inner calling.

Creativity is a process of exploration and discovery, and it requires a willingness to take risks, to experiment, and to learn from failure. It's also important to seek out inspiration and to engage with other artists and communities, whether through exhibitions, workshops, or online forums. By staying engaged and connected, we can continue to grow and evolve as artists and to make meaningful contributions to the world around us. 

Choose to be successful. Success and failure aren’t things that happen to you, they’re a decision you make when an obstacle is placed in front of you. Stay focused and driven. And remember, not all practice is deliberate practice. Challenge yourself with every work you do, and you will improve. If you aren’t feeling challenged, you’re not getting better.

Put your “artist mind” aside and look at your work purely with a “business mind”. Every so often, I make time to sit down and submit to relevant contests, awards, scholarships, etc (I put it on my calendar to make sure I do it). Submit intelligently - pay attention to what the publication/contest is about. For example, I don’t submit to awards or contests that mainly feature documentary-style photography even if they list “Conceptual” or “Fine Art Photography”. This will save you time and  money. 

Work, don't wait for enlightenment, muses or inspiration, just work hard. And of course always fail, start again and fail better. Not looking for the art, but discovering what all develops during the production.

I think it's really important to start being aware of how people, particularly your audience, will connect emotionally to your work. Sometimes it will be in ways you didn't expect, and it might be different for different people. Learn who to share your work with, and don't take it personally when it doesn't resonate with some people. The other thing that I would say, is to examine what is stopping you from making art, or making more art, or making your best art. It might be a habit you need to drop or develop, it might be to do with your working environment, or it might be to do with mindset, either way, give the art what it needs, and try to remember as much as possible how lucky you are to be able to do what you do.

If you have a sensitive spirit, there is no shame in being private about your work as it develops. Though there is a perception in current culture that we must publicly share every moment, I find my best work comes from within me during periods of intense solitude. Be purposeful about guarding your studio time. It is easy to convince yourself that marketing, advertising, accounting, teaching, or even organizing your creative space count as studio time. While those tasks are essential, it is crucial to protect the time you spend creating.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be bold, fearless and keep learning from everything you do to build your visual vocabulary. Trust your inner voice, you know yourself best. Go after things that mean something to you. Finding your voice takes a while. It doesn’t happen right away, it’s a lifelong endeavor. If you have the openness to learn from your failures as well as your successes, with work hard and dedication, you can be successful. Just make art you love and people will see it come through in your work. Keep your sense of humor front and center. Always keep a small sketchbook with you and draw everywhere. And have some animals in your life. My cats make me laugh all the time!

To be honest, I don't feel qualified to give this kind of advice. This is my first contest. I just dared to do it and was persuaded to do it by my beloved wife, who helped me a lot to believe in myself. In conclusion, the only advice I can give at this point is simply to "believe in your art".

General advice is to is to get to know some of your local photographers and get to know their work. And I kind of get inside their heads a little bit and learn, how they visualize their own work. And in some cases, you can really, you can really advance your own work by learning how other people visualize as well. As an artist, never work as a singular person. Always get out there and interact with other artists. Socialize with them, get to know them, talk to them, and understand their work. A person can only grow by doing that.