Finding Style
A short time ago, and two blog posts, I talked about how presets were ruining my body of work, and how I felt I didn’t have a style. In the recent weeks, I feel that has drastically changed, and I’m finally producing a body of work that I’m proud of, and that feels cohesive.
Feet in Lake Michigan
I believe there are two things that happened that led me to this point in my photography journey.
The first is that I joined a community and have other photographers to bounce ideas off of, discuss the struggle with, and have a space for experimentation. I do think that is important, because when you’re a solo creator, it’s easy to see what other successful people are doing and just emulate that because it seems to work. But when you’re part of a community, and more importantly a community where people are at different stages in their journey, it isn’t about what works to be a successful photographer; it’s about understanding what other photographers are seeing, and taking bits of each of their experiences and experimenting with your own techniques to find something more intriguing. It’s less about emulation and more about amalgamation.
The second is that, lately, I have strayed away from exclusively street photography with human subjects and find myself doing more landscape photography. This has been both a blessing a curse.
It’s a blessing because I’m feeling more relaxed, and less anxious about being around people in noisy environments; now I can go out into peaceful places, and take my time with my photography. One thing I’ve been trying is the Brenizer method to create a medium format look (wide angle photography with a shallow depth of field), and I’ve been loving the results. The files are huge and Lightroom keeps screaming at me to increase my cloud storage, but otherwise, I love the results. However, I feel that technique isn’t conducive to fast-paced street photography. So slowing down has been a welcome change.
A very mundane example of the Brenizer method, but a love this photo for some reason
It has been a curse because my colors are a little off; specifically my skin-tones. When I’ve edited a landscape photo, I love the results. When I throw people in there and try to use the same editing techniques, people come out very orange, which requires more minute editing. A bit of a pain.
Particularly orange people
I don’t think this is to say that I’m done with street photography. It’s still a style of photography that I find most endearing and authentic. But as I slow down and try to find the beauty around me, either because I’m visiting Northern Michigan which is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, or I’m trying to relieve my anxiety from every day life, or I’m just out fishing, I find that the pace of landscape photography fits my needs as a photographer more, and the images I’m creating feed my soul as a creative.
I feel I had more profound intentions when sitting down to write this post this morning, but it has turned into more of a rambling on unrefined emotions and a photo dump. If you’ve read to here, I apologize.
Ultimately, I think I’m trying to say, if you aren’t happy with what you’re creating, try a different genre. It may not be the answer to your problems, but it may help you find a new perspective. But what do I know?
