Finding Your Unique Photography Style

Think of your favourite photographer.  Would you recognize that person's work anywhere?  If you stumbled across a photograph on another blog, would you simply know, with some certainty, that it was something that photographer took?

Tetons and the Snake River, by Ansel Adams

Think of how your favourite artist takes a photograph.  The colours, the contrasts, the angles, how they capture a subject.  The continuity in their work.  This is all part of photographer's style.  These are the aspects that make an artist's work unique and wholly individual, and perhaps most importantly, identifiable.

Family Pictures, 1984-1991, by Sally Mann

One of the first things many new photographers do is attempt to imitate other artists' styles.  This is a common way of learning.  After all, it's the artists we respect and admire that might give us the inspiration to pick up the camera, to continue learning, to grow and improve.  Perhaps they spurn thoughts of, I wish I could take photos like that.  Or even, I hope I can be that good someday.  Those styles speak to us on a private, creative level.

David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini, by Helmut Newton

But, you see, an artist's "style," isn't something that simply exists from the moment they pick up a camera.  It is developed over time.  It changes, sometimes in subtle shifts, and sometimes in more accelerated ways.  Because, ultimately, our styles are an extension of our personalities.  They are an extension of how we view the world, how we view people, and the things we find beautiful. All of these aspects can shift depending on our experiences, emotions, or circumstance.

Jerry Uelsmann

While imitation might help in introducing an artist to a medium, style develops from taking what we've learned and making it more personal.  Style develops not from, how can I make my photo look like this photo I admire, but from focusing on ourselves.  From making photographs an extension of how we see the world on an individual level.

Betty Low, 1936, by Yousuf Karsh

Artistic expression is not limited by equipment.  Indeed, the equipment we use are simply tools to capture a small moment of world view, a little piece of ourselves.  And sometimes, the more limited we are, the more inventive we are forced to become, and the more challenged we are to simply create.  To make that piece of ourselves visible to the world.

Heronwood: The Secret Garden, by Willie Anne Wright.  Taken with a pinhole camera.

Finding your style is about being fearless.  Don't be afraid to take bad photos.  Don't be afraid to work with a camera that isn't the one your favourite photographer has.  Don't be afraid to try new things and take your camera on the street and snap snap snap.  Don't be afraid to fail.  Don't let yourself be limited by all the things you assume you need.

All you need is you, and your camera.