Stop telling photographers they need to find their 'style'
Seriously. Just stop it.
Personally I think it’s one of the most damaging things you can tell a new photographer, especially when they are struggling.
I know I personally struggled for YEARS trying to find my allusive style… because it’s what I was constantly being told to do. It sucked.
I also know a ton of photographers who are told the same thing, find your niche, find your style.
INSTEAD I’m here to tell you young, amateur, budding, blossoming, new and old photographers.
Do not think you have to find anything.
You are exploring your creativity through photography.
From someone who’s been doing it 12 years now, struggled for the majority of it and finally found her path maybe 5/6 years ago now I have some ‘wisdom’ to share.
Your ‘style’ will come eventually. You may not ever have one. You might be a damn good food photographer but also have serious skill in fine art photography. You do not have to pick one.
From experience, my ‘style’ came the moment I stopped listening to the noise. I stopped trying everything everybody else was doing because I didn’t enjoy it. In fact I just photographed things that excited me, photographs I wanted to do and voila, my style evolved and is pretty much there, though I can guarantee it will change over the years. Because we are creative explorers by nature. Photography is a great format for this.
BUT social media is now part of our main stream, we are constantly bombarded with images, photographers and the next trending types of images, it is SO easy to get caught up in it all, I certainly did on and off over the years. The worst thing it did to me was not only kill my confidence but made me stray away from my creative path, I didn’t enjoy my work, I constantly put myself down, convinced myself that my work wasn’t good enough and that my ideas were rubbish, so I stopped creating and almost tried to do what everyone else was doing…
‘You will never influence the world by trying to be like it.’
Cut through the noise, be influenced by things that YOU like, things that excite YOU. Read stories about subjects you like, Pinterest boards, films, tv series, get away from what other photographers are doing and focus on what you are trying to create, explore every damn avenue you like, as long as you’re exploring and doing something YOU want to do.
It’s hard, it’s a hard journey and a hard pill to swallow. Especially when we’re often told ‘find your style’. Pffft do what you want to do and the rest will come with time.
