What’s your photographic style? I’m guilty of asking it myself and it’s a dead ender. The kind of question that doesn’t really have a correct answer. We evolve in our practice and try different things but seldom do we exclusively do just one thing.
My first ever photography workshop, one of the leads, legacy photographer Chris Harris succinctly described 4 styles of photography. Documentary, non expressive and exactly what you see as in a medical textbook. Journalistic, somewhat expressive, sharing an emotion of the scene however mostly true to life. Expressive, what the artist sees in a differing point of view with the use of light. Abstract, not recognisable as what the image is through the lens of the photographer.
With this example, most of all photography is a combination of the last three styles. This is still not helpful to answering the question. I do give a little shine to the photographer who can succinctly answer this question, but it is not me. Prefering the whimsy of the day to declare what I am. Shooting just any one of these styles isn’t realistic for me either.
What this question does do for me is to slow me down. In a good way. I’ve taken the past two years to be a lot more thoughtful about where I am, who I am as a photographer and where I want to go. I don’t try and shoot a million photos. Being more thoughtful and concise before I even take a frame is my focus. I’ve started to return to the film and range finder systems. This is like square one for a decades long photographer! I even regularly forget to take off the lens cap! With film loading, it doesn’t always work!
I think I’m a happy accident photographer mostly. I don’t have any interest in an “iconic” shot. This everyone seems to have, it’s been done and I don’t want that. I don’t have any need to get what anyone else has. It’s fine to emulate another to learn a technique, the Craft of photography, but I’m far more interested in the Art of photography, and the unique things that happen while I’m out there trying anything.
The easy get of a beautiful shot, the famous Golden and Blue hour shots, I find actually kills my motivation. How do I go into a busy messy dark and gloomy rain forest and try and manage a well framed shot that gives you the feels of the magic of this kind of place? This is my personal goal and challenge…. and again, what kind of photographer does this make me? A style of pain and torture?
My favourite photos are often these ones that I’ve made mistakes with and aren’t technically perfect. I remember on the scene saying “Oh F!” and that’s the one I get printed. Flawed and messy. The thing that makes these my keepers is that they bring me back to that moment. I smile and have a certain satisfaction reliving that little moment of emotion. I’m not anywhere closer to the answer of what kind of photography do I do. Maybe I leave it at Experimental. There is not a satisfactory answer to this question for me.
So I wander on, undefined, getting lost and maintaining an experimental approach to my captures everywhere I go. I use lenses I’m not used to, and unfamiliar with. I play with the toggles and settings. Something will work. No pegs in holes for me.
Want to work on creating and developing your own style? Work it out through experimentation and small goal focusses every time you go out to shoot. Use a variety of techniques and see what sticks. Reverse engineer images that inspire you. Keep shooting.
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