Finding your voice and your style
[I’m deviating from my “usual” discussions of erotic photography. This is where my head has been lately - thinking about some things I learned long ago about photography and art in general. I thought I would share them with you.]
I know. I don’t write in this blog very often. But like I said last time, it’s not because I don’t have anything to say, it’s because I am not a writer. I am a quiet photographer, a visual artist. It’s easy to know that about myself, that I am not a writer. It just takes a little introspection and honesty.
Knowing your gross strengths and weaknesses is easy. But artists need to know more about themselves than the easy things. They need to know subtle things that are difficult to learn. They each need to discover their media, style, subjects and what they want to say. In other words, each needs to find their metaphorical voice.
These things are discovered along the way as artists develop their art. Any artist will tell you that it takes time, effort, trial, error, frustration and discovery. And the process is no different for photographers.
As a photographer, how you express yourself is your style. It’s your visual signature. It’s what makes your pictures look like yours. Your style is part of your voice, along with the subjects you choose, what you are trying to say, etc.
The process of developing your art and finding your voice usually starts with imitating a style you like. I know that sounds like a contradiction. How can you develop your own style when you are imitating somebody else’s style? It sounds strange at first, but it’s natural and encouraged. It’s how most artists find their own voices.
Photographers may have been moved by the works of a certain master or contemporary photographer. You like the way the photos look. You like what the photos say. Or you may have been inspired by a single photograph, maybe in a magazine ad. Regardless of the source of the inspiration, beginning photographers are well-advised to go ahead and imitate the style they like. That is the starting point of most successful photographers and artists
After imitating for a while, you will find that your photos don’t look like that style you were imitating. That’s when you will know that you are beginning to develop your own unique style. You will be finding your own voice.
Simply put, that is how most successful photographers developed their own art and style, and found their own voice.
- RAP
