Finding your style

[chuasam]

One of the most important things as a photographer is finding your unique style. Finding what defines your images and makes you different from the crowd.
Don't want to shoot like everyone else. You want to be able to tell your story and convey you visual ideas in a different way.

Post 3 to 5 images you took that most demonstrate your photographic ideal. These are often images that you took and you can't stop looking at.

I'm a portrait photographer so it is only natural that I post a collection of portraits.

 

[Designer]

Of the five you've posted, which is your favorite style?

 

[Fred Berg]

I had some photos posted but took them down again: do you want us to post some of our own?

 

[soufiej]

I can be dense at times, I admit. But I don't see a "style" in what you've posted.

You say, "Don't want to shoot like everyone else. You want to be able to tell your story and convey you visual ideas in a different way."

I have to say in response, being dense at times, I see pretty much what I have come to expect from any "portrait" photographer in your shots. Nice lighting, attractive models, good technical values on display. Nothing bad but also nothing that would make me remember your work over that of hundreds of others.

What do you see as your style? What makes you keep coming back to these photos?

And, don't you think "style" is a bit like saying your "art"? Somewhat overworked and most often pretentious IMO.

When I think style, I tend to think Sinatra, Elvis and Hendrix. These three are people who, among the thousands who were doing similar work at the time, made a style that was uniquely their own.

Each one had a style that was a self made amalgam of traits picked up from others and made their own by their personal power and imagination. What they did was really not that different than most others but they did it in a way which you could identify as only coming from them individually.

The hundreds of followers who jumped onto their bandwagon had no "style" of their own. Personal style is something that exists in one out of ten thousand similar voices. Tony Bennet's nice. Steve Lawrence made lots of recordings. But there's only one Sinatra. No Elvis impersonator is the real deal.

Sort of like the idea there are only X number of stories to be told, there are only Z number of subjects to photograph and only Y number of ways to do it. I take photographs of Z minus a great number of those subjects. I can't say I have a style of my own, I simply don't make a conscious attempt at copying what anyone else has done. I suspect though, someone else looking at my work would say they can see the same thing in my photos that they see in hundreds of others.

Doesn't bother me. There are only X number of stories to be told.

 

[Designer]

.. I don't see a "style" in what you've posted.

Of course you do. There are five styles.

 

[soufiej]

.. I don't see a "style" in what you've posted.

Of course you do. There are five styles.

Uh, I only see four? Maybe.

Is "dark background" a style?

 

[Designer]

Five

.. I don't see a "style" in what you've posted.

Of course you do. There are five styles.

Uh, I only see four? Maybe.

Is "dark background" a style?

Five photos, five styles.

"One riot, one Ranger."

Have a look at the lighting, not just the background.

 

[bribrius]

I just take photos. If there is a certain style i suppose that is for others to decide, contemplate, discuss.

 

[soufiej]

Five

.. I don't see a "style" in what you've posted.

Of course you do. There are five styles.

Uh, I only see four? Maybe.

Is "dark background" a style?

Five photos, five styles.

"One riot, one Ranger."

Have a look at the lighting, not just the background.

I don't think I want to know which one you see as the "Ranger".

 

[Designer]

I don't think I want to know which one you see as the "Ranger".

That's simply a quote from an old TV show.

The only connection it has to my post is that it contains the same phraseology.

That's how I roll.

 

[soufiej]

I don't think I want to know which one you see as the "Ranger".

That's simply a quote from an old TV show.

The only connection it has to my post is that it contains the same phraseology.

That's how I roll.

Damn! I do hate being dense. It makes it so difficult to ... "roll".

 

[bribrius]

I don't think I want to know which one you see as the "Ranger".

That's simply a quote from an old TV show.

The only connection it has to my post is that it contains the same phraseology.

That's how I roll.

Damn! I do hate being dense. It makes it so difficult to ... "roll".

this time of year, usually khaki shorts, worn leather shoes (but good quality ones). For socks mostly just simple white cotton occasionally beige ones depending on what i am wearing.

 

[sashbar]

You have to be pretty good before claiming you have style.

 

[Designer]

I just take photos. If there is a certain style i suppose that is for others to decide, contemplate, discuss.

Photographers develop a "style" by being consistent over time and doing things a certain way. I think it is pretentious to try to develop a "style" on purpose.

 

[bribrius]

I just take photos. If there is a certain style i suppose that is for others to decide, contemplate, discuss.

Photographers develop a "style" by being consistent over time and doing things a certain way. I think it is pretentious to try to develop a "style" on purpose.

So are you calling the o.p pretentious or do you not like my shoes?