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Perceptive Vision - Developing a Personal Style

Many photographers base their ideas of a “good” photograph on other photographers work - what they see in exhibitions, books and magazines. They most often look to emulate these existing models or individual images. So over a period of time they might produce a series of good photographs which are all good photographs in there own right, but stand in isolation from each other with little aesthetic, or conceptual dialogue between them.

Or they may even emulate the work of a single photographer, copying technique and aesthetic style.

So, when we look to emulate other photographers work, it can be constructive to look critically at what the original inspiration is.  A photographer like Ansel Adams had a clear vision; his work is located within a specific genera and time period. He worked mainly with black and white film, large format cameras, which were able to capture huge amounts of tonal detail and placed great emphasis on precise composition within the cameras frame, lighting, exposure and then crafted prints using chemical based photography and intricate burning in and dodging.

 

Originality and Visual impact

If we employ the right strategies an take the time to connect with ourselves it is possible to produce images that have a sense of originality and impact.

In twenty years of teaching I have seen more Cindy Sherman and Ansel Adams look-a-likes than sunsets and as we know sunsets are often seen as a cliché. Yet in the Summer Solstice series I have been working on since 1988, I have developed a personal way of photographing sunsets and sun rises.

In this series, I followed the sun across the sky for the entire day of the summer solstice. I used a square format camera tipped onto the diagonal to represent the fulcrum when the sun is at the highest point and is about to tip back again towards winter.

 

So, when we look to emulate other photographers work, it can be constructive to look critically at what is inspiring in the work and what we are copying. A photographer like Ansel Adams had a clear vision; his work is located within a specific genera and time period. He worked mainly with black and white film, large format cameras, which were able to capture huge amounts of tonal detail and placed great emphasis on precise composition, lighting, exposure and then produced highly crafted enlarged prints using chemical based photography and and intricate burning in and dodging.

There are thousands of photographers who every year line themselves with a similar view point to Adams in Yosemite National Park hoping to get the superb shot. Not only have the views changed in this time because the trees have grown so much, but imitating this style of work with a digital SLR will always fall short of the superb quality of an Ansel Adams original, - it could be a more productive strategy to acknowledge Adams work, but apply the equipment in a very different manner.

In Australia, another example is Ken Duncan – Duncan uses professional panoramic cameras which use 120 film, and is very dedicate to being in the right location at the right time. He has created a bench mark for this genera of photography, so when we see other images taken in this style we tend to mark it against his work.