Do You Have A Photographic Style??
Jan 9, 2017 00:57:34 #
RWR wrote:
I nearly always use a waist-level or angle finder, so bend my head down when photographing. Would that be considered my style?
It depends. If your viewer does not auto-correct and you are seeing a reversed image, panning the wrong way can result in a very unique style of photography. I started with a simple TLR and practiced this unique style for some time!
Jan 9, 2017 01:03:16 #
SharpShooter wrote:
It's pretty simple...., do you have a photographic style?
What constitutes a style, photographically?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is neither a test or a competition, just an introspective conversation about ourselves or others, photographically speaking!
This should be both fun and a learning experience.
SS
What constitutes a style, photographically?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is neither a test or a competition, just an introspective conversation about ourselves or others, photographically speaking!
This should be both fun and a learning experience.
SS
"Existential literalism" I'm a follower of Alfred Korzybski. The meaning of language is that it is a map to reality, but not reality itself. So too with a photograph. Every photograph (Except the occasional snapshot--though those also to some degree) is an attempt to communicate my existential reality as I view the subject, but to do so with a literal image.
I would post an illustrative image of this but I haven't the time at the moment. However, one of my favorite photographs is a field full of cut-off chicken feet, many with the toenails. This one rarely gets exhibited because most viewers are repulsed by the literal image and unwilling to find their own meaning or mine.
Jan 9, 2017 01:05:27 #
mjmjam wrote:
My style is as little post processing as possible. Coming from the film days I try to get right the first. Then touch it up
mj - I don't think that you would find 1 person out there who doesn't try to get it right in camera.
Jan 9, 2017 01:20:27 #
I think if you strive for a particular style it will seem contrived. If a "style" emerges from your body of work, it will be what it is. The word is offensive to me.
P6
P6
Jan 9, 2017 02:03:29 #
Pilot 6 wrote:
I think if you strive for a particular style it will seem contrived. If a "style" emerges from your body of work, it will be what it is. The word is offensive to me.
P6
P6
Pilot, I agree. I'm willing to bet that NOBODY sets out to make/create a style. Styles become unique as a result of shooting, be it because of our minds playing out what we feel works for us, or by experimentation till something works for us.
And often styles are assigned to us by others. To us, it's just the way we work but to others and possibly even to ourselves, we begin to recognize that our work may have become unique to us, so others or even ourselves can recognize that.
Have you ever watched the antics of a high jumper or a pole vaulter before take-off and on approach? Those rituals can become bazaar. Do you think they make them up? Or do you think they just happen? Take my word for it, They just HAPPEN!!!
So it is with a photographic style. We lock into something that just feels right or works for us, so thus a style may develop.
I never said, "go out and get a style"!
I simply posed the question as to whether people thought they HAD a style. Some have said yes, some have said no. I'm a little surprised by how many have described HOW they go about shooting, but that's ok too. It's not a photographic style but it is THEIR style which is as unique as a style also and fun to hear about as well.
So pilot, why don't you just go ahead and tell us if you THINK you have a style, or maybe you HAVE a style, and if so, how did you go about discovering you had a style and how did it develop??
Thanks for the response.
SS
Jan 9, 2017 04:59:48 #
Nope, I don't have one. I wouldn't know what to do with one. I'm not sure I would recognize it if I did have one. I don't think I even want one.
Jan 9, 2017 06:18:53 #
Do I have a "style"? Yes, in the literal sense of the word, I do ... or at least try to.
"Style" as it relates to art, photography, or writing is defined as more about form, appearance, or character ... more having to do with the form of expression than the content of the thought(s) being expressed. So, one can imbue style to an image that has weak content, or have content that is unsupported, or is even subverted by, the style being used to express it. Style is a very important aspect of the visual arts because it is so personal and can even make a mundane subject take on new life.
For example, Impressionist painting could be defined as a style that moved from classical depiction of subjects to convey more of the emotional aspects of the subject that the artist personally felt about the content. Same content could be presented differently though the style used.
Therefore, it seems that a proclivity to photograph people, industrial, nature, etc. would not be a style ... it is how one depicts those subjects that would define style.
It is also quite possible for individuals to have more than one style if they have an interest in many different subjects. Or one could have one style to depict a range of subjects (people, landscapes, places, things) ... like the Impressionist and Post Impressionists tended to do. Cubism is interesting because it took basic subject matter and dissected it into time/space segments and showed it all on one flat surface. Nude Descending Stairs by Duchamp shows how depiction of a mundane everyday subject can take on new energy and meaning.
I didn't invent the photographic style I gravitate to ... but I try to personalize it to my journey and environment. "Decisive Moment" photography interests me most because it was the type or style of photography that spoke to me even before I took up photography. In fact, it is why I took up photography.
Of the moment images have unfailingly intrigued me through nearly 5 decades of camera work. For me it is intertwined with the mechanics of photography ... because the explicit objective is to snatch a tiny individual sliver of time measured in fractions of a second and freeze that one moment forever. No other visual art does that. It is unique to still photography.
As the French photographer Robert Doisneau said in his book "Three seconds of Eternity", the sum total of all his curated work amounted to less than three seconds of time ... 1/500th here 1/250 there, etc.
I do make photos in other styles depending on what and why ... but it is the Decisive Moment that holds the most interest for me, and has been part of my photographic journey for my whole adult life.
- Marc
"Style" as it relates to art, photography, or writing is defined as more about form, appearance, or character ... more having to do with the form of expression than the content of the thought(s) being expressed. So, one can imbue style to an image that has weak content, or have content that is unsupported, or is even subverted by, the style being used to express it. Style is a very important aspect of the visual arts because it is so personal and can even make a mundane subject take on new life.
For example, Impressionist painting could be defined as a style that moved from classical depiction of subjects to convey more of the emotional aspects of the subject that the artist personally felt about the content. Same content could be presented differently though the style used.
Therefore, it seems that a proclivity to photograph people, industrial, nature, etc. would not be a style ... it is how one depicts those subjects that would define style.
It is also quite possible for individuals to have more than one style if they have an interest in many different subjects. Or one could have one style to depict a range of subjects (people, landscapes, places, things) ... like the Impressionist and Post Impressionists tended to do. Cubism is interesting because it took basic subject matter and dissected it into time/space segments and showed it all on one flat surface. Nude Descending Stairs by Duchamp shows how depiction of a mundane everyday subject can take on new energy and meaning.
I didn't invent the photographic style I gravitate to ... but I try to personalize it to my journey and environment. "Decisive Moment" photography interests me most because it was the type or style of photography that spoke to me even before I took up photography. In fact, it is why I took up photography.
Of the moment images have unfailingly intrigued me through nearly 5 decades of camera work. For me it is intertwined with the mechanics of photography ... because the explicit objective is to snatch a tiny individual sliver of time measured in fractions of a second and freeze that one moment forever. No other visual art does that. It is unique to still photography.
As the French photographer Robert Doisneau said in his book "Three seconds of Eternity", the sum total of all his curated work amounted to less than three seconds of time ... 1/500th here 1/250 there, etc.
I do make photos in other styles depending on what and why ... but it is the Decisive Moment that holds the most interest for me, and has been part of my photographic journey for my whole adult life.
- Marc
Jan 9, 2017 06:31:17 #
fotografz wrote:
..."Style" as it relates to art, photography, or writing is defined as more about form, appearance, or character ... more having to do with the form of expression than the content of the thought(s) being expressed. ...
good comment/response
Jan 9, 2017 07:39:57 #
RWR
Loc: La Mesa, CA
Mogul wrote:
It depends. If your viewer does not auto-correct and you are seeing a reversed image, panning the wrong way can result in a very unique style of photography. I started with a simple TLR and practiced this unique style for some time!
For sure panning is an adventure with a waist-level finder!
Jan 9, 2017 07:52:37 #
It seems that some (if not a lot) of folks here are blending technique with style. If you stand on your head every time you take a photo, seems like that is more of a technique. To me a style is more what you present at the end. Is it recognizable, cohesive, and in a persons particular 'brand' of work? (or am I just being too literal?)
Jan 9, 2017 09:53:32 #
Jan 9, 2017 10:03:43 #
NoSocks wrote:
Am I allowed to comment if I shoot Nikon?
I didn't let that stop me!
Jan 9, 2017 10:07:57 #
Jan 9, 2017 10:10:12 #
NoSocks wrote:
Am I allowed to comment if I shoot Nikon?
of course, you don't have to have class to have a shooting style.
Jan 9, 2017 10:23:05 #
oldtigger wrote:
of course, you don't have to have class to have a shooting style.
***Insert own profanity here***
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