So in a constant pursuit of trying to make my mark in the photography world, I always check out other people's work. I end up getting into a mind set of try to do what they do. Well on the surface this is great because you need to see what is working on the outside world of making a career of photography. You wouldn't show a magazine photo editor a portfolio that has a bunch of work that has a style that they wouldn't use. So yeah, you need to be showing work that they want to see, so study up people.
However........
However, there is a point when you start copying people and you lose yourself and your creativity. Which, for me, is exactly why I do photography. It is the only medium of art that I can actually express myself and get all that out of my head. When you start going the way of others, you end up selling yourself out. Which, of course, is not cool at all.
I've been sensing this a bit lately and I have all these ideas that I want to get out. What if I did that? Well, people might say that nobody else is doing anything like that out there, you would be dumb to do that. Screw that. Im tired of being told I have to keep up a certain appearance and be something completely different in order to make it.
What happens when you start to do what you want to do instead of what other people tell you to do? You get freakin innovation! The only time you get change is when someone steps outside of the norms of society and actually does something.
How about this image for example? This is a vision I had in my head during my second deployment. I had this idea in mind that would perfectly express how I felt being in the military. Now there are a few problems of course. Doing something like this would get me in a bit of trouble with the AF if anybody ever saw it. I did it anyway. It was a lot of fun to get it all done and it wasn't an elaborate setup either. I used lamp light (I really want to shoot this again with better lighting).
Yet when it was done I was happy with the results and then I ended up getting a few copies printed. I was put in the local paper for an art show and this is the image they decided to use. Oh guess who saw the image? An AF officer did and he came to see the show actually. You know what he did? He bought the print and put it in his office. Pretty awesome eh? I also never got into trouble for it either. However, I did stir up a lot of controversy over the image. Look at the image on my facebook and you will see people debating this image all the way from hard core patriots to those that sympathize with the other side. Isn't that what good art does? It engages you, but most people are afraid of stepping outside of the comfortable cushy art stuff.
That brings up my second point. Dont do what is always comfortable. Push your limits, thats how muscles grow, when you stress them out through exercise. I can't think of too many photo-shoots that I have done that I wasn't stressed out or nervous. Usually when I am not nervous, I am not putting my best effort into it and the images won't come out as good as they should have. Yet every time I do a shoot and I get nervous, I end up working harder and the images come out better. I always learn something new and I become a better photographer one step at a time.
This last shoot I did for Dance Fusion had a different set of stress. I had about 30 girls to take pictures of inside of a studio and being pressed for time and budget. I came out of the 4 hour shoot dog-tired but the images came out great.
I guess the best example I can think of is when I was shooting my first real "shoot" in LA. It was for a band called Petree and they had 3 or 4 shoots before me and were not happy at all with their pictures. They even had a photographer for the Pussy Cat Dolls do one of the shoots. Yeah thats not a lot of pressure at all. So we set the shoot up, I found a studio and we made it happen through all the different obstacles that comes along with these types of things. Not to mention I had never really used an actual studio, just a couple of lights here and there.
Well, everything worked out great and I still get to do assignments for them from time to time when they need it done, which getting repeat business is one of the goals.
Moral of the story?
Get beyond your comfort zone, do something different and do be a sell-out with your work and your art.
However........
However, there is a point when you start copying people and you lose yourself and your creativity. Which, for me, is exactly why I do photography. It is the only medium of art that I can actually express myself and get all that out of my head. When you start going the way of others, you end up selling yourself out. Which, of course, is not cool at all.
I've been sensing this a bit lately and I have all these ideas that I want to get out. What if I did that? Well, people might say that nobody else is doing anything like that out there, you would be dumb to do that. Screw that. Im tired of being told I have to keep up a certain appearance and be something completely different in order to make it.
What happens when you start to do what you want to do instead of what other people tell you to do? You get freakin innovation! The only time you get change is when someone steps outside of the norms of society and actually does something.
Yet when it was done I was happy with the results and then I ended up getting a few copies printed. I was put in the local paper for an art show and this is the image they decided to use. Oh guess who saw the image? An AF officer did and he came to see the show actually. You know what he did? He bought the print and put it in his office. Pretty awesome eh? I also never got into trouble for it either. However, I did stir up a lot of controversy over the image. Look at the image on my facebook and you will see people debating this image all the way from hard core patriots to those that sympathize with the other side. Isn't that what good art does? It engages you, but most people are afraid of stepping outside of the comfortable cushy art stuff.
That brings up my second point. Dont do what is always comfortable. Push your limits, thats how muscles grow, when you stress them out through exercise. I can't think of too many photo-shoots that I have done that I wasn't stressed out or nervous. Usually when I am not nervous, I am not putting my best effort into it and the images won't come out as good as they should have. Yet every time I do a shoot and I get nervous, I end up working harder and the images come out better. I always learn something new and I become a better photographer one step at a time.
This last shoot I did for Dance Fusion had a different set of stress. I had about 30 girls to take pictures of inside of a studio and being pressed for time and budget. I came out of the 4 hour shoot dog-tired but the images came out great.
I guess the best example I can think of is when I was shooting my first real "shoot" in LA. It was for a band called Petree and they had 3 or 4 shoots before me and were not happy at all with their pictures. They even had a photographer for the Pussy Cat Dolls do one of the shoots. Yeah thats not a lot of pressure at all. So we set the shoot up, I found a studio and we made it happen through all the different obstacles that comes along with these types of things. Not to mention I had never really used an actual studio, just a couple of lights here and there.Well, everything worked out great and I still get to do assignments for them from time to time when they need it done, which getting repeat business is one of the goals.
Moral of the story?
Get beyond your comfort zone, do something different and do be a sell-out with your work and your art.
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