Dessert selfies in Nevada
I'm not talking about selfies like the one i just posted above. I want to go a little deeper than this. This conversation might not even completely relate to me just yet. I say this because I'm not 100% sure i've found myself photographically. I do however think i'm really close and that i have the foresight to see or look for my persona in all of my images. One of the things that separate photographs from person to person is their personal emotion or attachment to the photographs they take. The next step is to showcase that in the photograph. You want people to feel how you felt when they look at your photographs right?
How do you do this you ask? Well i can't really answer that in one sentence considering the fact that i'm still working on doing the same exact thing. I can how ever try and give you some insight on how I'm working on doing this for myself.
Chaos in my mind
One of the main tips and possibly the best one i can give you is photograph what you like. for go all the self doubting thoughts of cliche images or thinking i have a similar shot already. Keep photographing. I understand this is sort of contradictory to being decisive and how i slowed down when i started using film again, however if you constantly stop yourself from photographing images you'll have less of a chance finding your style.
Next time your out photographing or just with family or friends, don’t not take a photo because your sub conciousness tells you that it’s been done before. Do it anyways take the photographs that you want to take. I still compeletly beleive it’s better to take a bad or repetitive photo rather than to regret not taking it at all.
stagnant without progression
second tip!!! Turn that switch off that allows the outside influences to dictate who you are inside. This is probably by far that best piece of advice I can give to anyone I know. This doesn’t even have to apply to photography or photographers. This goes out to anyone I know or anyone that reads this blog post. You may have heard the saying “dance like there is no one watching”. This statement has lit the imaginary light bulb that hovers over my head so brightly that you’ll get a sunburn standing right next to me.
Who is anyone out there to tell you who you are or what you like? Photograph your shoes that you wear every day and love oh so much that you have 3 pairs of it. Take more photos of your cat because your basically an old cat lady/man. Just make sure you're making photographs with intention to show who you are and make sure your persona shows in every image. It doesn't have to be blatant, subtlety works just as well. Hints of yourself hiding in photographs can be immensely thought provoking. It'll create viewer interaction with your photographs.
So go out and make photographs with intent to put yourself in it. Don't listen to what anyone else tells you is good or bad. shoot for yourself.