Epiphany! I've always had a very distinct idea of what I want to photograph and how I want it to look. However, I also like to read, research and get advice just to cover my own insecurities about what I want to do - it's just my nature. But the last wedding I photographed at the end of March I had the confidence to shoot what I wanted - not a bit of my stuff and the rest in the style of someone else or how I thought I 'ought' to shoot - and 'Hey Presto!' I ended up with the wedding day coverage I really wanted and was totally proud of.
I have a style - and that I think is really important.
There are a lot of photographers out there but I've always hedged my bets and shot how I think professionals should shoot with a bit of my own style thrown in. But 'NO!' have the confidence to shoot from your heart, the images you want to produce. I look at a lot of other photographers work - some I like, some I envy, some I'm amazed by - but the images that I 'love' are the ones that are shot with a unique style and perspective. That is what I have to have - and I'm now determined to persue it.
The images people always comments on and the ones I want to show of mine are the ones I put myself into, the ones that represent my style. That is what I'm shooting from now on. You have to cover all the bases on a job but I think I can still do that keeping my own personality in the image, not trying to create a pastiche of different photographers' appoaches to one subject.
Current definition of my style (it is sure to refine): Documentary realism with an editorial aestethic.
I need to put that in my pipe and smoke it!
This is great - I can picture the lightbulb lighting up above your head.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you've taken a risk to decide what it is you don't or won't do. It would seem to be the wiser course to be all things to all people - the danger of losing a client or a job can be an over-riding motivation for many. But to what end? Attempting to appeal to the lowest common denominator is surely a strategy for long term failure.
The big question that should be asked is: why? Why do professionals do things the way they do? Is it the best way or it is some inevitable compromise? When people answer such a question with the response: "That's how we've always done it" - I always think: FAIL.
A final thought: anything created with passion, honesty and integrity will always shine through.
I don't know the secret of success, but the secret to failure is trying to please everybody.
ReplyDelete- Bill Cosby