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Photography, the perfect combination of activity and creativity!
With Thrainn Kolbeinsson (@thrainnko)
"For me, photography is definitely the perfect combination of activity and creativity."
During the two years I‘ve doing photography, I‘ve discovered a good deal of things that have fed into the development of my own approach to the craft. While most of them are pretty personal to me and would probably apply differently to different people, there‘s one in particular that I‘d like to share which might resonate with others.
When it comes to developing your own personal style at anything, I‘m a big believer in the value of concepts over specific technical advice. But at the same time, that concept has to be such that it can feed into the development and evolvement of specific techniques.
The concept I‘d like to discuss is the one regarding the constant push and pull between going for something classic (which will definitely get a good reception) and going for something different or new.
In the end I‘ll mention a few ways that I‘ve found helpful to put that concept into practicality. And just to clarify, I definitely go back and forth from those two poles all the time and personally feel a constant pull towards the safer shots, having to actively strive for the latter to actually progress as a creative.
In the past year, I have had way less time to shoot than I‘d like. With few days for photography, and often no idea about when the next trip could be, I found myself going for the same areas over and over, somewhere I was sure I would capture something.
In addition, I often went to those places with very specific shots in mind, something I had maybe seen a million times before. I found two big downsides to that approach: It left me with little feeling of achievement and there was minimal creativity involved by my part.
"It was my experience that it greatly suppressed my own creativity and made all innovative approaches to the subject way less likely while on location."
For me, the whole process just became less exciting and made me realize I‘d have to make some changes to keep the creative mindset active.
To put this concept into practice, there are definitely many things that can be done (like actively seeking new places etc.) but these three made a big change for me. If anyone else has experienced anything similiar, hopefully they‘ll come in handy for them as well.
1. Not fixating on a specific popular shot
Don‘t go to a specific spot, with the conscious goal of getting a very specific popular shot (same angle, same foreground etc.). Rather, have a general idea of what I‘d like to capture and maybe have some shots in mind, but not letting that direct the whole process.
2. Slowing down
When arriving at a new place, I feel I‘m way more likely to get something new and interesting when I take some time looking around before picking up the camera and start shooting in all possible directions.
3. Innovating in the popular places
If going to a popular place that has been shot a million times, I actively try to find a way to do it a little differently: A new composition, some foreground, a rare angle, a different style of editing, etc. Putting big emphasis on the word „try“ here… definitely does not always work.
"I‘m not saying that every time I shoot I‘m trying to invent the wheel, but rather consciously pursuing ways to develop and evolve as a creative."
In the end I guess it all comes down to what your own goal with photography happens to be: Developing as a creative, growing your social media account, travelling, or any combination of these or any other number of possible reasons. Which makes me wonder about myself, what actually is my goal with this photography thing?
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