Latest / Wildlife and Adventure Photography / Finding inspiration and developing your style

Transcript

Finding inspiration and developing your style · Wildlife and Adventure Photography

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hello again and welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're talking about something that every photographer runs into sooner or later, and sometimes multiple times, and that's how to find inspiration and how to also develop a style that feels like your own.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've ever felt stuck shooting in the same kind of photos, or you're scrolling endlessly through other people's work, or you're just wondering why your images don't quite feel the way like you used to get, then this episode is definitely for you.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to break this into a couple of parts.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is how to find inspiration in a way that actually fuels your photography, and then after that, we'll look at how we turn that into a consistent visual style.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what I would say about style is that I'm a big believer that style is one of those things that continuously develops.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I think as soon as you sort of plateau with one style, you get inspired by something else and move on.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So part one.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So this is in this part, I'm just going to talk about finding inspiration as a photographer.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And inspiration comes from what you see.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, photography is a visual language.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So your inspiration will be directly tied to what you look at.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if all you're seeing is the same Instagram trends, the same presets, the same compositions, obviously you're just going to replicate those because you've got no new input coming in to shape things up a little bit for you.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the most effective things you can do is to expand, let's call it your visual diet.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And some of the ways you might do that is to study classic photographers, uh, look at paintings, cinema, architecture.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Pay attention to light in everyday life.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the kind of thing to start noticing are things like how shadows fall across a face, how colour changes at different times of day, how framing a subject affects the emotion of the shot.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So inspiration, inspiration, I should say, isn't just online, it's basically everywhere you look.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second way to just shape things up a little bit is to shoot without a purpose.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, not every shot needs to be for a client if you're shooting for clients or for a particular post or a portfolio, or for any particular reason, because some of the best ideas you're going to have come when there's no pressure.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So just go out and shoot with no expectations, walk around your neighborhood, photograph ordinary things, day-to-day things, experiment with light and angles.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, photography, or one of the I think one of the most important things you can do with photography is to present ordinary things and show them in a way that people don't normally expect to see them.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Or it can be just highlighting things that people walk past every day.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: The idea behind doing this though is that when you remove the need for a good result, you give yourself space to explore, and that's where inspiration tends to show up.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot to be said for just playing, basically.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that will um really start engaging your imagination, and from there, obviously, we get inspired.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next way to think about it is to think about capturing ideas and not just photographs.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, as photographers, we tend to think in terms of images, but I think it's just as important, maybe more important, and definitely more challenging to think about ideas.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, start collecting shot ideas, lighting concepts, locations, moods, color palettes, and build mood boards, just uh make notes, jot things down because when you show up to a shoot with even a rough idea, you're far more likely to create something intentional.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, uh kind of goes, I guess, slightly abstract, is what I'm saying, in the way you're approaching photography.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, however you usually approach photography, especially if you're on a let's call it a shoot, it might be um a trip out, it could be a holiday, anything like that.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just have some alternative ideas in your back pocket, as it were, and try something different.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing to do, or the next way of finding inspiration, is to deliberately limit your gear.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And this can sound like a backward step, but it's definitely something I've spoken about before, and I think it has um tremendous uh merit, actually.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because having too much gear on you, if you've got too many options or it's too easy to get a shot, it can really stifle your creativity.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So when you have endless choices, what you tend to do, you tend to just go for the easiest path.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: You become less concerned with problem solving, and the beauty of problem solving is that it starts making you think differently.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: You have to approach how to get a particular shot without using a zoom telephoto, for example.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: You've only got a fixed focal length lens.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, how are you gonna do that?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because your normal way of getting from A to B is not gonna get you there, it's just not available, so you have to come up with something uh new.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, the kind of challenges you can do, and I'm gonna call them that because I think they're it's a really good thing to do regularly, is to just for a whole week just use one lens and shoot everything with that, or alternatively, you could shoot only in black and white, which I think is a brilliant idea because when we see things in black and white, we're seeing them differently because obviously we see in colour, and black and white is all about shapes and contrast and textures.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, shooting in black and white is a great way to just see things differently and stick to one focal length.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, as I've said, if you've got a zoom lens, they're pretty useful.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: I use them all the time, but it the challenge is just sticking to one focal length, whether that's a um a prime lens or you're using a telephoto.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: What this does, it makes you move more physically to try different positions, get in closer, get further away, maybe get down low and shoot, get up high and shoot.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: It definitely makes you think more about how you're going to achieve a particular result, and you're definitely going to create more interesting images, but also it can give you that creative kick for when you come off the challenge and you're shooting your more regular subjects, you can come up with different ways of shooting them.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the first part of what I wanted to talk about, which is looking at inspiration, and then I wanted to talk about developing your photography style in this uh podcast.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is your photography style?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, basically, one way of looking at it is that your style is your decisions.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, it isn't just your editing, let's say, it's every decision you make, it's what you shoot, it's how you frame it, it's how you use light, it's how you it is how you edit.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, your style is a combination of all of those choices, and it becomes style when you repeat those choices again and again over time.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, if you feel that you don't have a style yet, it's not because you're missing something, it's because you haven't made enough consistent decisions yet.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you have got a style and you just hadn't noticed.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, look at what you're doing, look at how you shoot now.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: What do you tend to shoot?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: How do you tend to frame things?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: How do you use light?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do in the editing process?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And once you've identified that and get specific about it, get as specific as you can, then look at changing things.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Look at other look for other things that um maybe work, but they give you a result that's close to what you would normally shoot, but also different, and maybe it's something you like more.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: So understanding your style is is really important.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, another way of approaching style is looking at photographs that you love.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we've all got those shots that are things we aspire to, that we we just love the image, it connects we connect with it in some way, and the purpose of this is not just to admire it, but to go a step beyond that and start breaking it down.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So start asking yourself and be as specific as you can with this as well.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the light coming from?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: What lens might have been used?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: What focal length?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a special lens?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: What was used in this particular photograph?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: How is the subject positioned?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: What makes it feel the way it does?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, is it how the light's been used?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is it contrast?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is it colour?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all the different elements that go to make up a shot.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, this I think is a very useful exercise to just sit down with an image that you really like, give yourself 20 minutes, half an hour just to slowly go over it and get clear on what that photographer has done.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And by doing that, you start to identify things that you can adopt, decisions that you can adopt, and begin to develop your style into that direction if that's what you want to do.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, what you're looking at doing is to recreate elements of what you're seeing.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, this isn't to copy um per se, and I I'm a big believer in not trying to become another photographer, as in uh let's let's say Ansel Adams is a name that popped into my head there.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he had a particular style with landscapes.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, I'm not suggesting if if landscapes is your thing that you be trying to become Ansel Adams because you're never going to get there.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: But what you can do is use aspects of what Ansel Adams has done in his photography, and then add your spin to it, add your insights, what you're seeing, how you would approach that shot, and then you become different.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you're inspired, but you develop your own style.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping that makes sense.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And basically, basically, this is all about training your eye.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Then we've got editing.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: So editing does play a huge role in your style, but it shouldn't be the only thing defining it.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when I learned photography, and I was learning, I studied photojournalism, I worked with um a top-end photographer, as in was charging a lot of money to do shoots.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what we were taught was to look at basically set the photograph up through the viewfinder, and the moment we hit the shutter button, that was it.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that was those were the days of film, so things are slightly different.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'm saying here is don't rely heavily on presets, make sure that you understand contrast, colour balance, skin tones, highlights and shadows, all of those elements that you can tweak maybe a little bit in post in editing.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not sure, or maybe again you're lacking a bit of inspiration, just try editing the same photograph in different ways and see what feels right to you.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: That can be uh maybe reducing saturation on colour, it might be increasing saturation, just as examples.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: It could be playing with the the light balance, contrast could be different crops.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you can have I would suggest have fun with this, just play with it, and in doing that, see which maybe top three, which of those different variations you've produced, which do you which do which do you prefer?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Which do you want to adopt as perhaps uh a way that you like to photograph certain subjects?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, what will happen is by doing this, you'll naturally gravitate towards a certain look, and that becomes, if you like, your visual signature when it comes to photographs, if that's where you want to take your style.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Next thing to do is to look for patterns in your work.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, one of the fastest ways to understand your style, perhaps now, and maybe how it's evolved, is to just look back, go through your last 50 or 100 photographs, and just ask some questions about it.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: What subjects do you keep shooting?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do you prefer natural light or artificial light?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Are you drawn to darker tones or brighter images?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do you tend to shoot wide, wide angle, or do you shoot tight?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do you go for intimate crops?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of thing.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the more questions you can ask, the clearer you will get about how your style is now.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and maybe, as I've said, you might even not realize you have a style, and then it can come and hit you that maybe you do.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing to think about here is the final thing to think about in this sort of group of ideas is to embrace bad photos.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: So not every photography tape will be good, and this is necessary because what bad photographs do, or what we choose to think of as bad photographs, they show us what doesn't work, they show us what we don't like, they show us what we can avoid next time.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's definitely a myth that professional photographers shoot brilliant photographs every time.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um the the professional photographers only show you the good stuff.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to you really want to embrace and value, assign value to photographs that are not good, they're not what you're aiming for, but they give you that opportunity to just deconstruct them and look at what went wrong.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens is the more you shoot, the more mistakes you make, if you like, the more the more bad photos you shoot, the faster you start to refine your instincts so that before you realize it, you're starting to shoot really good photographs that you enjoy that define your style without particularly consciously thinking about it.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so there's a weekly system you can adapt if you would like to.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea of this is to start building in um basically a consistent improvement.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, the only way we really the only way we get good improvement is to shoot consistently, it's to do um, you know, have some discipline about what we're doing.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: If we're not, if if we're one of those people who just tends to put the camera in the cupboard and then every month or two it comes out, if we're lucky, that kind of thing.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you really want to change that approach, start adopting a simple structure.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: So my suggestion, and obviously it's completely up to you, on the inspiration side, just pick a time every week where you can study 10 to 15 great photographs, or at least 10 to 15 photographs that you really enjoy, and just go through that process that I outlined of deconstructing them, understanding uh what the photographer did who took those images, and that will give you basically a checklist of elements within a photograph that you, if you want to produce those kind of results, you need to adopt so that becomes your style.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do at least one intentional shoot every week and experiment, try something new every time, and then at the end of it, maybe at the end of the week, or definitely at the end of the shoot, just look at your work critically.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's not to put yourself down, don't get into all of that sort of self-flagellation stuff.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but look at okay, what was good about this work.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I've tried some new things at the end of the week.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: You've tried some new things, what worked, what didn't, and has anything else come out of this?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes when we're trying different things, we just hit upon something we hadn't thought about before.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So there is real benefit in having um a simple weekly system in place.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do really do want to improve your work, just adopt something like that, even if it's just for a couple of months, you will see a difference in what you're producing.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing I would suggest is don't chase trends.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I never do, to be honest, because I'm not that switched on to know what they are, um, to be perfectly honest.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I find I'm much more self-driven in and I do exactly what I'm talking about.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see some work and I think, oh wow, that's amazing.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I need to shoot like that.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: How did he do it?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Or how did she do it?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: And what can I steal, basically, to and add to my work and what I'm doing?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this to me is part of the creative joy of doing photography.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is why, to me, you never learn photography, it's always an ongoing journey.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: To me, photography is never about a destination.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you you or you might go through multiple, but they're just en route to to better photography.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say forget about trends.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the thing to focus on is what you are genuinely interested in.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be subjects you enjoy, it might be portraiture, it could be sport, it could be whatever.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And think about the way you like to shoot.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are you really getting in amongst the action?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: If it's that kind of a thing, are you doing tight portraits?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Have you got a lot of movement going on?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that leads you to the mood that you want to create.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: What is mood to you?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: How does mood represent itself in an image?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is it about a dark image with a lot of contrast?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is it about bright colours?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, have a think about that.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I I do have an online course.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's uh called Discovering the SLR Mirrorless Photography.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And these are all elements that are within that course because the idea is to first of all take you from kind of zero knowledge of photography, pretty much, but to teach you the basics so you've got the solid foundation that you can build on, but then start exploring the more creative avenues.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And this to me is where it becomes it's not only rewarding as a hobby or as a pastime, but also you can start shooting amazing photographs of people in your life.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And and the truth about that, and I've spoken about this before, is that people come and go in our lives all the time, it's just part of living.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: So the people that we know right now that we're spending time with right now is the truth uh about it all is that they're not going to be there forever, and that applies to ourselves as well, obviously.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: But it does mean that we can start producing images of people that may be two, three generations from now, people absolutely loving it because they give some insight into the personality of that particular person who might otherwise be just the name and some dates.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, not trying to get morbid, but some food for thought, hopefully.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, just to finish this particular episode off, I would suggest to you that inspiration comes from paying attention.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's to the specifics of photography, it's the lights to people, it's observation, it's everyday moments, it's about and it's about being intentional about what you bring in.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's about selecting the things that are useful to help you come up with a new idea.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you'll know straight away because you just look at something and you think, wow, okay, got to do that.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's really what inspiration is about.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the way to get inspired is to put yourself in situations where you are open to inspiration and you are open to feeding your visual diet, or should we say, expanding your visual diet so that you you have the opportunity to see new things.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And style, well, that's something that's built over time, it's built through repetition, experimentation, lots of imperfect photos, they're absolutely wonderful.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't need to have it all figured out.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: I still don't.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've been shooting for a very long time now.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the the bottom line is you just keep shooting, you try in new ideas, you refine things, you trust that your style will emerge through the process because I pretty much guarantee it will.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: You almost can't stop that happening.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that is it for this podcast, and um thanks for um listening.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm gonna talk about next time is the creative process because I have a webinar, free webinar, happening soonish.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think in a week.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, check on the website and it's all there.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna talk about creative process next and the kind of things to think about.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully you found this useful.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Please remember to like and subscribe, that'd be amazing.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Tell your friends, um, and um, I'll speak to you next time.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.