Your photographic Voice

[jp]

I'll go one step further and say that if you set out to make significant pictures, you won't. If I think the picture I'm about to make is really good, I usually walk away, because it won't be. Ego interferes too much.

So, instead, I just try to do it with as little conscious thought as I can control.

Word!

Makes me a boring fresh-air/exercise companion with a camera, but it's fun to see what one discovers.

[Alan Gales]

In contrast to some other posters, I think it's possible to have a voice/style even with landscape images.

I completely agree! Just look at Ansel's work for example.

[Robert Langham]

Simple. Just stare through the viewfinder until drops of blood start forming on your forehead.

[Robert Langham]

Actually looks like you are well on the path. Keep that question in mind and keep working. The bottom of each box of film will find you a slightly different photographer than the top sheet. It's a "process" and it takes a long time to just get to where you begin to know what you are looking at. The thing that is being processed........is YOU.

[Robert Langham]

A few hints, mostly what NOT to do.

1. Don't be influenced. Nobody needs junior copies of Ritts, Weston, Adams, Sullivan, Capa, Avedon, et. If you get that urge to reach for a camera, are you looking at something YOU see or thinking about a photograph by Maier? If you see a William Clift.....walk on. Look through your own eyes. The miracle, the new, the creative, is in YOU, somewhere.

2. Know your history. There's only about 180 years of photo history. Know it, know the players, know the work, know the techniques. With Amazon.com used books you can give yourself a bargain masters education in the History of photography in a year or two. That education never stops. I just recently saw several Westons I hadn't ever seen plus tried to plow through Robert Adams essays sentence by sentence. Conversant with "Art and Fear"? How about "Through the Studio Door? How about "Ansel Adams at An American Place?" Photographs by Stiegliz, Szarchoski and Strand? "Great Big Beautiful Doll"? Read the Okeefe/Steiglitz bios? "The Golden Hour?" "Looking at Photographs? "On Photography?" "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence?" It's all out there. Order 'em, read 'em and send them back to Goodwill. Buy the cheapest most scuffed up used paperback underlined dog-eared bent page books. "California and the West" first edition is 10 bucks. "Certain Places" was 18.00. Some are one cent. One.

3. Know your technique. Then learn more.

4. Work out of your back yard. If you think you have to go to Antarctica, well....maybe you do, but start with ice cubes out of the fridge. Sally Mann shot her family. Adams is known for his back yard. Eggleston worked around the neighborhood. Weston looked underfoot. If your familiar doesn't start looking exciting and exotic, you just aren't looking hard enough. Or soft enough.

5. If pursuing your vision doesn't cause financial or relationship problems, then please don't bother.

6. If you don't dream about photography, maybe it's not for you. There's no sin in that. Just notice the indicators. Maybe you are just a fan, and goodness knows there are plenty of slots for fans. Buy the books, buy some images, go to some shows, join a collectors circle.

7. While in the whirlwind of everything above, keep it simple on some pure elemental level that you can only feel just after it passes.

8. DON'T take a photograph. Learn to look and walk on from bad, imitation, partial, possible images. Even shooting pixels. Just walk away.

9. Show and talk about your images. Images made to show, even to people who can't "see" them. Somebody will let you put up a show in their store, business or restaurant. Do it. Make the work, frame the work, title the work, sequence the work hang the work. This is for YOU not them. Be bold, even with your awful work. Start now at whatever level you are on. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly....at first.

10. When, not IF, you get stuck, try a new approach. Eat your subject matter. Eat a piece of film. Beat an SD card to pieces with a hammer. Freeze the flower instead of photographing it. Hit yourself in the head with a piece of rock and let it bleed for a bit. Draw it instead of photographing, using only two lines from a bic pen. Go away and come back later. Think of a title instead of an image. Write a poem about it. Go for a run.

11. Use the wall. Put up and look at new and old images. They will gain power or wilt on the wall. Lay out a sequence. Figure out your tendencies. Are your photos left handed or right handed? Centerist compositions? What's the theme? Put them next to someone else's work. Ask your partner what they think. Don't keep them in a box.

12. If you are young and think "angst" or "drama" or social justice or someone else's trama is to be exploited for your photography's sake....then please keep shooting and work through that phase as soon as possible. (Maybe you SHOULDn't show these for about......20 years.) To get through this phase: try holding strangers at gunpoint while you photograph their terror. This is a great idea that hasn't ever been used. You're welcome. Use a mask and hoodie.

13. The latest new idea will be old and busted in about a semester, though I was a little charmed by "Fun-ism."

14. Notice and relish, relish, relish...a new idea. Follow it to the NEXT idea. And the next. Let it morph. Let it grow.

15. You might have too many cameras and lenses. Maybe you just need one lens, one camera, one technique for a few years. Too many tools in the toolbox and you never learn to use any of them well.

16. Go on Blurb and buy a copy of the Blackfork Guide. It's a crescent wrench of a book. Everyone needs it.

17. Work without ceasing. Life is it's own therapy. Photography will bend to your will, even if you should have been a plumber.

[ndg]

A few hints, mostly what NOT to do.

1. Don't be influenced. Nobody needs junior copies of Ritts, Weston, Adams, Sullivan, Capa, Avedon, et. If you get that urge to reach for a camera, are you looking at something YOU see or thinking about a photograph by Maier? If you see a William Clift.....walk on. Look through your own eyes. The miracle, the new, the creative, is in YOU, somewhere.

2. Know your history. There's only about 180 years of photo history. Know it, know the players, know the work, know the techniques. With Amazon.com used books you can give yourself a bargain masters education in the History of photography in a year or two. That education never stops. I just recently saw several Westons I hadn't ever seen plus tried to plow through Robert Adams essays sentence by sentence. Conversant with "Art and Fear"? How about "Through the Studio Door? How about "Ansel Adams at An American Place?" Photographs by Stiegliz, Szarchoski and Strand? "Great Big Beautiful Doll"? Read the Okeefe/Steiglitz bios? "The Golden Hour?" "Looking at Photographs? "On Photography?" "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence?" It's all out there. Order 'em, read 'em and send them back to Goodwill. Buy the cheapest most scuffed up used paperback underlined dog-eared bent page books. "California and the West" first edition is 10 bucks. "Certain Places" was 18.00. Some are one cent. One.

3. Know your technique. Then learn more.

4. Work out of your back yard. If you think you have to go to Antarctica, well....maybe you do, but start with ice cubes out of the fridge. Sally Mann shot her family. Adams is known for his back yard. Eggleston worked around the neighborhood. Weston looked underfoot. If your familiar doesn't start looking exciting and exotic, you just aren't looking hard enough. Or soft enough.

5. If pursuing your vision doesn't cause financial or relationship problems, then please don't bother.

6. If you don't dream about photography, maybe it's not for you. There's no sin in that. Just notice the indicators. Maybe you are just a fan, and goodness knows there are plenty of slots for fans. Buy the books, buy some images, go to some shows, join a collectors circle.

7. While in the whirlwind of everything above, keep it simple on some pure elemental level that you can only feel just after it passes.

8. DON'T take a photograph. Learn to look and walk on from bad, imitation, partial, possible images. Even shooting pixels. Just walk away.

9. Show and talk about your images. Images made to show, even to people who can't "see" them. Somebody will let you put up a show in their store, business or restaurant. Do it. Make the work, frame the work, title the work, sequence the work hang the work. This is for YOU not them. Be bold, even with your awful work. Start now at whatever level you are on. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly....at first.

10. When, not IF, you get stuck, try a new approach. Eat your subject matter. Eat a piece of film. Beat an SD card to pieces with a hammer. Freeze the flower instead of photographing it. Hit yourself in the head with a piece of rock and let it bleed for a bit. Draw it instead of photographing, using only two lines from a bic pen. Go away and come back later. Think of a title instead of an image. Write a poem about it. Go for a run.

11. Use the wall. Put up and look at new and old images. They will gain power or wilt on the wall. Lay out a sequence. Put them next to someone else's work. Ask your partner what they think. Don't keep them in a box.

12. If you are young and think "angst" or "drama" or social justice or someone else's trama is to be exploited for your photography's sake....then please keep shooting and work through that phase as soon as possible. (Maybe you SHOULDn't show these for about......20 years.) To get through this phase: try holding strangers at gunpoint while you photograph their terror. This is a great idea that hasn't ever been used. You're welcome. Use a mask and hoodie.

13. The latest new idea will be old and busted in about a semester, though I was a little charmed by "Fun-ism."

14. Work without ceasing. Life is it's own therapy. Photography will bend to your will, even if you should have been a plumber.

Amazing!...and funny too. I like the one about holding strangers at gunpoint and photographing their terror. Don't think I'll be trying that. Cops may not find it that artistic. Thanks!

[Bruce Barlow]

A few hints, mostly what NOT to do.

1. Don't be influenced. Nobody needs junior copies of Ritts, Weston, Adams, Sullivan, Capa, Avedon, et. If you get that urge to reach for a camera, are you looking at something YOU see or thinking about a photograph by Maier? If you see a William Clift.....walk on. Look through your own eyes. The miracle, the new, the creative, is in YOU, somewhere.

2. Know your history. There's only about 180 years of photo history. Know it, know the players, know the work, know the techniques. With Amazon.com used books you can give yourself a bargain masters education in the History of photography in a year or two. That education never stops. I just recently saw several Westons I hadn't ever seen plus tried to plow through Robert Adams essays sentence by sentence. Conversant with "Art and Fear"? How about "Through the Studio Door? How about "Ansel Adams at An American Place?" Photographs by Stiegliz, Szarchoski and Strand? "Great Big Beautiful Doll"? Read the Okeefe/Steiglitz bios? "The Golden Hour?" "Looking at Photographs? "On Photography?" "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence?" It's all out there. Order 'em, read 'em and send them back to Goodwill. Buy the cheapest most scuffed up used paperback underlined dog-eared bent page books. "California and the West" first edition is 10 bucks. "Certain Places" was 18.00. Some are one cent. One.

3. Know your technique. Then learn more.

4. Work out of your back yard. If you think you have to go to Antarctica, well....maybe you do, but start with ice cubes out of the fridge. Sally Mann shot her family. Adams is known for his back yard. Eggleston worked around the neighborhood. Weston looked underfoot. If your familiar doesn't start looking exciting and exotic, you just aren't looking hard enough. Or soft enough.

5. If pursuing your vision doesn't cause financial or relationship problems, then please don't bother.

6. If you don't dream about photography, maybe it's not for you. There's no sin in that. Just notice the indicators. Maybe you are just a fan, and goodness knows there are plenty of slots for fans. Buy the books, buy some images, go to some shows, join a collectors circle.

7. While in the whirlwind of everything above, keep it simple on some pure elemental level that you can only feel just after it passes.

8. DON'T take a photograph. Learn to look and walk on from bad, imitation, partial, possible images. Even shooting pixels. Just walk away.

9. Show and talk about your images. Images made to show, even to people who can't "see" them. Somebody will let you put up a show in their store, business or restaurant. Do it. Make the work, frame the work, title the work, sequence the work hang the work. This is for YOU not them. Be bold, even with your awful work. Start now at whatever level you are on. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly....at first.

10. When, not IF, you get stuck, try a new approach. Eat your subject matter. Eat a piece of film. Beat an SD card to pieces with a hammer. Freeze the flower instead of photographing it. Hit yourself in the head with a piece of rock and let it bleed for a bit. Draw it instead of photographing, using only two lines from a bic pen. Go away and come back later. Think of a title instead of an image. Write a poem about it. Go for a run.

11. Use the wall. Put up and look at new and old images. They will gain power or wilt on the wall. Lay out a sequence. Figure out your tendencies. Are your photos left handed or right handed? Centerist compositions? What's the theme? Put them next to someone else's work. Ask your partner what they think. Don't keep them in a box.

12. If you are young and think "angst" or "drama" or social justice or someone else's trama is to be exploited for your photography's sake....then please keep shooting and work through that phase as soon as possible. (Maybe you SHOULDn't show these for about......20 years.) To get through this phase: try holding strangers at gunpoint while you photograph their terror. This is a great idea that hasn't ever been used. You're welcome. Use a mask and hoodie.

13. The latest new idea will be old and busted in about a semester, though I was a little charmed by "Fun-ism."

14. Notice and relish, relish, relish...a new idea. Follow it to the NEXT idea. And the next. Let it morph. Let it grow.

15. You might have too many cameras and lenses. Maybe you just need one lens, one camera, one technique for a few years. Too many tools in the toolbox and you never learn to use any of them well.

16. Go on Blurb and buy a copy of the Blackfork Guide. It's a crescent wrench of a book. Everyone needs it.

17. Work without ceasing. Life is it's own therapy. Photography will bend to your will, even if you should have been a plumber.

I violently agree with about half of these, vehemently disagree with the other half. I won't tick them (or myself) off one-by-one.

But I'll pick two. I think it's well worth going out to make pictures like someone you admire, because you'll fail. In how you fail, however, you'll find a taste of your own voice. That's worth learning from. It's also humbling, if you forget the proper perspective, which is that you're imitating Ansel at his prime, and failing. Duh! What did you really expect? (By the way, if you think yours are as good as Ansel's, find a good shrink, lie on the couch, and talk about being delusional).

Second, yes, the back yard. Pictures are everywhere, if only we can open ourselves enough to see them. Go into the back yard, toss a frisbee, stand on where it lands, and make three decent pictures. Toss again and repeat. Oh, yeah, and if you're stuck, take a 35mm or digi-cam, go to a playground where children are actually playing, and photograph them at play. Get close and get loose. It's a great cure for photographic constipation.

OK, three. Yup - complete work. Don't take it partway and skip on to the next thing. Print, mat, frame, and show. Take it all the way. Practice and learn how to sequence pictures - it's rippingly fun to do, and stories emerge.

And I'll add one more. Take your work seriously, but never yourself. There is little harder to take than some pompous fool who proclaims himself a seerious artist and tries to act like it. Live life lightly. Make pictures.

[pdh]

I note with some disappointment that the reading matter suggested by Mr. Langham is exclusively from the US tradition and authors.

An education in photography that is so narrowly focused seems not much of an education to me.

[Drew Wiley]

Voice? Just depends on who you're trying to impress. Croaking works in some species.

[dasBlute]

I note with some disappointment that the reading matter suggested by Mr. Langham is exclusively from the US tradition and authors.

An education in photography that is so narrowly focused seems not much of an education to me.

could you suggest some alternatives?