More thoughts on personal style

So, do you think your photography reflects a personal style? What is it? Can you define it? What is it you are trying to say with your images?

Dawn in Slickrock Country. Arches NP, Utah, 2013

I like to think my personal style comes out in my higher contrast black and white landscape work, some of which is done with a longer focal length and is more abstract, and some of which is done more traditionally with a wide angle focal length (as in the above image). I am still experimenting with other subjects and genres, so the jury is still out with me.  How about you?

Here are ten things to think about when trying to analyze your personal style in your photography:

1) Your style should reflect subjects about which you are totally and completely passionate.

2) Channel your inner emotions, your attitudes, your life experiences into your photography and your style will eventually emerge. Let go…let ‘er rip!

3) What genres attract you and which ones do not? When you think of the following, some will appeal to you immediately while others will not interest you in the slightest: photojournalism, wedding, street, macro, studio portrait, outdoor portrait, underwater, panoramas, landscape, infrared, nudes, travel, astrophotography, nature, wildlife, photo-graphics, advertising…to name a few.

4) What subjects do you seem to shoot most often? Wildlife, bugs, people, pets, plants, fish, horses, cyclists, airplanes…? Photographers with a definitive style tend to concentrate on certain subjects.

5) What lens or lenses do you tend to use? Wide angle, normal, macro, medium or long telephotos? Do you prefer zooms or prime lenses? Which lenses you use regularly will give your images a certain “look” which will then become part of your style.

6) What type of camera do you prefer to work with? A point-and-shoot maybe? A Holga or Brownie box camera? Or maybe even just the camera in your MacBook Air? Or, do you prefer the popular DSLR? How about medium or large format film cameras? Camera choice will also affect your “look” and thus your style, sometimes in a big way.

7) Does your photography tend to project a message, or no? Photojournalism and documentary, for example, are usually genres that tend to project strong messages. Nature and landscape, perhaps more subtly so (but not always!).

8) From what perspective do you tend to shoot? From the ground up? From the sky down (from an airplane maybe)? From tripod level? From a macro level, three inches away? This also will influence your “look” and, thus, your style.

9) How do you post-process your images? Do you prefer heavy HDR? The natural look? Vivid, highly saturated images? Black and white? Sepia? Double exposure or abstract layering effects? If you tend to always do things a certain way, you are on your way to defining your style.

10) How do you present your images? Do you print large? Print small? Post only on the web? Do you frame your work? Print on wood or aluminum or cloth? Do you hang your prints with clothes pins from piano wire? All of this goes into style as well.

I’m willing to bet that, as you read through all this, you were thinking…”I do that all the time!”…Or, “I’d never do that!” This is an indication that you are on your way to discovering your personal style.

For me, I still subscribe to the idea that the best solution–rather than worrying too much about whether we’ll ever have a personal style–is to go out and shoot A LOT, then post-process A LOT, then prepare images for presentation A LOT. If we do that, I think the matter of style will simply emerge and take care of itself without any unnecessary worry on our part.