22. Exploring my (and your?) photographic style
As regular readers know I've been on a photography growth journey for the past few years. I've tackled technical aspects like exposure, lighting, and white balance. I've experimented with genres like street photography and portraiture. I've even challenged myself with limitations, like taking fewer photos or only using one lens.
These exercises have definitely helped me improve, but one area I’ve really been wanting to explore is my growth as an artist.
As I began to look into this, one phrase kept popping up: photographic style.
Photographic style videos
There are countless fantastic YouTube videos on exploring photographic style, and I've devoured many of them.
In all of these videos three key questions come up again and again:
What exactly is photographic style?
Can (and should) you work on developing your photographic style?
How can you discover, understand, and explore your own style?
While I've transcribed some of the videos’ insights, these creators are so inspiring that I highly recommend watching them directly. Text alone just can't capture the full impact of their presentations. I've included links to some of these videos and a playlist for further exploration at the end of this article.
Looks are only skin deep, but style is to the bone… we confuse style with how something looks.
You have a style right now. It's in here, it's inside you. You can get it out by just being open to it, listening, understanding what is happening when you look at the world with your unique eye
Your photographic style is what will set your photographs apart from all of the others out there competing for attention. Style isn't about the gear, the lenses, or using certain Lightroom presets.
The secret to unlocking your creative voice and creating images that are unique and have a captivating power lies within you already. We just need to recognize what that photographic style is and how to unlock it.
—Alex Kilbee
Whatever your skill level, if you're serious about improving and getting your work noticed, nothing comes close to working out your photographic style.
Your style is your artistic voice. It's how you uniquely perceive and capture the world in your photographs. Think of your style as your signature. It's a blend of your favorite themes, subjects, the emotions you evoke, and your basic approach to light and color. You express your style or voice in choices you make both behind the camera and during editing.
Most photographers, myself included initially, pay little attention to style. If we want to improve, we focus on shooting different subjects, honing our technical skills, learning to better understand exposure, or even buying new gear. But it's discovering our style that truly elevates our work.
The main benefit of working out my style was that I finally started producing work I was proud of.
—Scott French
Find Your Photography Style in 3 Simple Steps
One of the videos that set out clear step-by-step instructions to help explore your style is Scott French’s “Find Your Photography Style in 3 Simple Steps.”
In this video (and in a free email course “Discovering Your Photography Style”) he lays out a good step-by-step program. I’m amazed at how much he packs into this 11-minute video but below is the summary of his program (thanks to AI! and Scott’s ok)
Step 1: Find your inspiration
Look for photographers and artists whose work you admire and emotionally connect with. It can be anything from paintings, music, and even poetry.
Pin or arrange these inspiring pieces on a board.
Ask yourself what draws you to these pieces. Is it the color, the tone, the composition, or something deeper?
Step 2: Analyze your own work and the work you admire.
Look for similarities in the work you admire and your own work. What do they have in common in terms of style? What do you find most successful in your own work?
Pay attention to your motivations and personal aesthetic. What are you passionate about? What drives you to take photos?
This is where you need to get to know yourself better. Understanding your motivations will help you discover your unique style.
Step 3: Experiment and create your own work.
Based on your findings from steps 1 and 2, start a personal project or series that interests you.
This could be anything from portraits to landscapes to cityscapes.
Experiment with different lighting, compositions, and shooting times
Don’t be afraid to try new things and find what feels natural to you.
Remember, your style is unique to you and it will evolve over time. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun!
Work on style with me?
I plan to dedicate 3-5 weeks to working through these steps one by one, documenting my progress as I go.
I think it would be more engaging and effective to do this with a small group. We could keep each other motivated and share our discoveries along the way.
The idea is to form a 3 to 4-person cohort to work through these together, connect on Zoom, discuss our findings after each step, plan the next steps, and repeat until we've completed the program. If you're interested, shoot me an email at josh@weinbergphoto.com.
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I know this deviated from my usual photography walks and images articles, but I hope you found it valuable. More visual content is coming soon! In the meantime, let me know your thoughts, and if you're not a subscriber yet, I hope you will become one.
Warmly,
josh
More videos to watch
Below are more of my favorite videos on exploring your photographic style. I put these (along with a few more) in an “Exploring your photographic style” YouTube playlist. I hope you enjoy them and find them useful.
Alex Kilbee’s The Photographic Eye
Tatiana Hopper
Street View with Rupert Vandervell
Joel Meyerowitz
There are many videos out there of Joel Meyerowitz talking about photography and if you have never seen one you owe it to yourself to watch one (or some). The video below is from his 2017 talk at Les Rencontres d'Arles. This is one of his longer talks—but well worth the time. It goes way beyond style to life lessons learned through photography.
Thanks for the link to the Meyerowitz video. I hadn't come across that one before.
Best wishes with your plan. I hope it works out for you. While I do like the opportunity for collective activities on photo communities, I'm inclined to the view that style more or less happens over time and with experience (or rather, that in my case it just happens) and that thinking about it too directly could be as constraining as it is enlightening.
this is an excellent topic. Seeing your photographs, I feel you definitely are on the road to having your own style. Will you be updating on the newsletter on progress? I would love to keep watch!