A few years into my journey as a photographer, I read somewhere that developing your own style was a prerequisite for success as a pro. I considered this, and realized, that the author was probably right. All of the photographers I admired definitely had a look. Jim Brandenburg‘s intuitive images in his book “Chased by the Light” blend together seamlessly into a tale of the north woods. Franz Lanting‘s photographs are an ornate mosaic of wildlife and landscape that create stories within stories. The travel portraiture and humanitarian work of David duChemin felt like I could reach out and hold the hands of the people he photographed. There were many others.
What the forgotten author of that article failed to mention was how you go about it.
I REALLY wanted to build myself a unique style. A quality in my images that would make me stand out from the many other photographers out there. I experimented with dark images, and high key, and (please forgive me) HDR. After some effort at this, I realized that everything I was doing was just a gimmick. On the off chance I’d succeed in this misguided effort, I’d just be stagnating, trying to cram myself into a mold that didn’t fit.
I gave up.
Years on now, I’ve largely ignored the whole principle of personal style. A style needs to evolve naturally through effort, time, mistakes, failures, successes, and the repeated clicks of many, many shutters. I’ve found one, but it’s impermanent, shifting with me as I learn, am inspired, and am influenced by others. Images from early in my career are not the types of things I make now, and the images I make now, are hopefully not the kinds of things I’ll be making 5 or 10 years down the road.
My advice is don’t sweat the idea of personal style in your photography. Just shoot. A lot. Allow yourself to make mistakes and explore, be creative, and don’t try to force yourself into a form that doesn’t fit. It doesn’t work with clothes, and it doesn’t work with photography.
Really, just go shoot.
