achristensen Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I have been spending some time looking at my portfolio and there is so much variety, no continuity of style. Many of the most-known artists develop a personal style which can be recognized at first sight. Some of my favorite photographers on this site have a unique touch that sort of defines their work. Just wondering what others' thoughts were on this subject. I apologize for not doing a search.... just wanted some current comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Desmond Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Think about what you are really passionate about. Usually, when people shoot passionately they tend to have a certain consistency of vision, even as they are very creative and diverse. You may be passionate about taking photos but can you break it down further. Is the variety keeping you from opening up to a certain level of intimacy with something inside that's uniquely you and that will move you? Certainly, in variety there can be a lot of creativity. But focusing on where you want to be and what really, really moves you might lead you in the direction you want to go. I think there are great artists and photographers who utilize a variety of styles. I think you might more be looking at and hoping for a consistency of vision. A voice. Why do you take photos? We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronda Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Im not sure I have a "style" I'm so new to the world of Photography I don't think I have developed one yet. Except for that personally unique way I have of shooting with the wrong aperture in harsh sunshine ;^) I know what you mean though sometimes I look at a photo and I know whose it is before looking at the name of the Photographer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samn Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Amy, this is a topic very personal to me. Some can never achieve the "look" that is personal and distinguishes his work. I have spent many years looking for that "look" and even bringing the new me and the new "look" to a new level. It is never going to happen. I can copy and imitate. I can even improve upon. That "look" for me soon becomes boring. Too confined. So, I will produce whatever I feel like. I have resigned myself to producing images as I please with no personal stigma. I like that. I quit worrying about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richterjw Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I went through a number of cameras, lenses, and subjects before I found what I really appreciated. That's not to say that I only photograph cityscapes and urban decay, but it is where I find myself. That may have something to do with my surroundings as much as anything else; Birmingham doesn't provide for a great deal of awe-inspiring landscape. But I am always seeing things "through a viewfinder" regardless of my locale or situation. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitmstr Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Style is a result of any of the two following: 1) It may happen by chance. Something strikes you, leading to experimentation and eventually a style based on that. 2) it may be the result of a well reasoned, developed approach, based on whatever data/input you place into that equation. Those are the only two seeds I know of that can create a 'style'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrraz Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 If I have a personal style, it had to come from stumbling my way through life with a camera, but I can't recognize it myself. I've never really worried about a personal style because I've shot almost everything but weddings at one time or another. I just give it a try and practice until I'm satisfied with the result. It's allowed me to get inside the client's head to give them what they wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacy Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I think I have a style, but not sure how I got it and it's probably evolving so maybe it will be different in a year or two- I don't know. I just like to shoot in certain ways and am drawn to certain angles and images so maybe that's where it comes from? Also- maybe editing out things that i don't think are my "style"? Interesting to think about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maris_rusis Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 My personal style came from looking at photographs, at least 100 000 of them. Once I decided what kind of photographs I liked the next step was learning how to make them. Once that knowledge is in place all that remains is to keep making those photographs. That's personal style. The alternative was learning what kind of photographs other people like, that I might hate, and doing those. But then I may as well be a professional photographer whose style necessarily adapts to every clients preferences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay_de_fehr Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 My style has evolved based on my chosen subject matter (friends and family), working methods (handheld, available light), and materials (B&W film), which, taken together, favor certain equipment choices (fast lenses, ergonomic/quick-operating film cameras), which in turn, suggest certain techniques ( selective focus at wide apertures, close working distances). Add to the above logical progression some of my personal preferrences, such as candid work over posed/formal work, isolation of my subjects as opposed to more environmental compositions, and so on, and the end result is what could be called my personal style. I would define it as the logical consequence of my artistic choices, or, function follows form, with apologies to Mr. Sullivan. I'm not sure it's even important for an amateur like me, but it does lend some continuity to my family album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairmoore Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I wonder if photographers have a style or the photographs they produce have a "look". Take Dave Hill, for example. Is the images he's famous for his style? Does he only shoot and process images like that or do clients use him because they want the look of his photographs in their campaign or whatever it might be for? I think a photographer would only have a style if they shot one particular type of image.. urban, or landscape or portraits. Surely if a photographer shot a portrait and then a landscape image, the style from one subject to the other would be impossible to reproduce simply because of the massive difference in subject? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullmetalphotograper Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Mas Tequila, helps me. I worked in a newspaper with 5 other photographers and I could tell you who shot what about 90% of the time. Everyone approaches a subject little differently when shooting. This almost like finger print. Styles change as time goes on and reflects how a photographer approaches his work. There is also personal style and marketable style. These can be two different things. Style is one part technique, one part artistic vision and one part luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achristensen Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Interesting comments all. Several months ago I was reading on the wedding forum, taking particular notice of the requests to critique a wedding and one group of images made a huge impression on me. After reviewing his images, 30-40 or so, I was taken by the familiarness of one image to the next. I couldn't put my finger on it but others noticed it as well. He eventually commented that he had processed each image the same with, among other things, a slight color tone. While technicalities don't equate style, the way images are processed, whether it be haphazard or very intentional, seem to dictate the style that is interpreted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achristensen Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Ralph, don't we all want that fingerprint? That's an awesome description- very inspiring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leroy_Photography Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Amy, I think style comes from experience, technique, and taste--it's something that is reflective of your own passion. For some, the passion is sports, some landscapes, some black-and-whites, some digital alterations, etc. I guess all you can do is find your passsion and refine your technique in order to translate it into a form that others can appreciate. I'm still looking for my "style" too. While I love sports and am comfortable on the sidelines, I've tried to go outside my comfort zone in order to grow and learn better techniques. By doing this, I've found that I also enjoy finding obscure, overlooked, everyday things and working to make them stand on their own. I have a long way to go, but isn't life a journey--an adventure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 <i>Your personal style? Where did it come from? </i><P>My style comes from a dark and dank part of my brain, warped by shooting men beating each other to a pulp and women taking their clothes off. It results from careless shooting and meticulous post-processing to create a homogeneous portrait of the riots around me. And maybe from shooting mostly at night. Every now and then some spiritual stuff creeps in, but I really avoid places where nothing ever happens (ref. Talking Heads.) Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achristensen Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 jeff, i liked the talking heads. or are you a talking head? whatever happened to them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akochanowski Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Style comes from a unity of vision and control over your technique. Many photographers whose images are immediately recognizable have left a body of work that says something or shows facets of the same thing in a similar range of focal length, palette and even perspective. Look at Bill Owens' series "Suburbia" and "Leisure" for example. The photos are taken in a straightforward, almost bland perspective. Taken together they are both funny and poignant. The same is true for a very different photographer, Alex Webb of Magnum. His work is exclusively in color, exclusively in 35mm, exclusively in Kodachrome, yet although it is composed of many different subjects, the commonality is his use of complex framing. I think that once you figure out what you are trying to say-- as opposed to trying to emulate pictures you have seen elsewhere, your own style may come through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 <i>whatever happened to them?</i><p>Jerry Harrison is here in San Francisco, he works with a lot of new musicians. I met him a few years ago through Bernie Worrell, but never see him on the street. David Byrne is still recording and will tour with Brian Eno this year. Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth seem to have retired. Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 To quote the great philosopher Lone Watie: "All I have is a piece of hard rock candy. But it's not for eatin'. It's just for lookin' through." Everything looks sweet and tasty now. Like brains to a zombie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achristensen Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 Lex, okay I'm dense. whatever do you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richwatson Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Step 1. Photograph what you like, how you like it... If you dont like the results repeat step 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandysocks Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Well, Sam Norris has one of the most stylized portfolios I have ever seen. I don't know if that applies to the rest of his work though. One woman on this forum characterized the my work as an interest in decay. I didn't see that coming. Maybe our style has to be characterized by our critics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Saying you don't have a style is like saying you don't have an accent. Just as with your verbal accent, we all have a visual accent or style that is created in the social and cultural setting that we inhabit, together with our own individual experiences. It's really tough to escape our personal and cultural styles. I know that I spent so many years taking photographs as documentation that it is really hard for me to break out of that approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petemillis Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Alastair: "I think a photographer would only have a style if they shot one particular type of image.. urban, or landscape or portraits. Surely if a photographer shot a portrait and then a landscape image, the style from one subject to the other would be impossible to reproduce simply because of the massive difference in subject?" I don't agree.... A still life http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6877586-lg.jpg another still or product shot http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7686771-lg.jpg A portrait http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7036097-lg.jpg A nature shot http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6954077-lg.jpg Architecture http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6652182-lg.jpg and another http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6649864-lg.jpg Don't know a category for this one http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6722373-lg.jpg Landscape http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/6776069-lg.jpg I think there is a connecting style to all these different subjects, and I thinks it's my style starting to come out. Maybe I'm delusional though, and it's all in my head! But I like shooting a range of subjects using similar techniques. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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