There’s a lot of pictures out there that look the same.
Ya know why?
Because there’s a lot of conventional photographers following the conventions of photography.
There’s these ideas floating around that say in order to make “good” pictures, we’ve got to follow specific rules and conventions-it’s like if we follow this checklist that’s supposed to help us make good photographs and check off all the boxes, we get a good
photograph.
If there’s anything that’ll kill our creativity and make our pictures look like the homogeneity that’s out there, following such a checklist will do that.
And the truth is, doing whatever everyone else doesn’t make for unique work.
In fact, it does the opposite because we’ve become conventional photographers doing conventional photography.
Being Conventional Versus
Being Unconventional
When we start, we always think we’ve gotta learn how to do things correctly.
Most start by learning the “right” way to do things.
It’s “right” to follow the rules of
composition.
This is the “right” camera to get.
And if we use our “right” camera in the “right” way, we’ll get a good picture.
This is safe and predictable stuff to do.
The safe and predictable approach to photography is the conventional approach to photography.
It’s understandable to wanna take that approach because there’s safety in convention.
But in exchange for safety, we lose our creative edge and our pictures look like everyone else’s.
The conventional approach to Photography ensures we’ll produce good pictures if we make ‘em in the right way.
In other words, be a conventional photographer working in a conventional way.
But we want our pictures to be more than good; we want them to be interesting and unique, and the only way to do that is to be an
unconventional photographer.
To put it another way, we’ve gotta make photographs based on not what we see but how we think about what we see.
Nobody thinks about things like we do.
We have unique minds, and although we may see the same thing, we think about what we’re seeing uniquely-our unique way of thinking about what we see is the key
to our unconventionality.
As unconventional photographers, we don’t need rules; we disdain them.
We’ll go out of our way to try something new, and if we make a mistake, we either learn from it or absorb it as something we intentionally do in the future, but this time with understanding.
The Convention Problem
When we stick to convention, we create conventional
photographs that don’t show who we are as photographers.
Technically, they might be perfect, but they lack our unique visual voice.
And it’s our unique visual voice that’ll make our photographs unique, engaging, and worth looking at-it’s our intent, curiosity, and willingness to make pictures that reflect our unique mind, and by doing that, we buck convention.
A good question to ask is: are we making pictures we think we’re supposed to make, or are we making
pictures that interest us?
So, How Do We Get Unconventional?
The first thing we gotta do is to get familiar with the basics of photography, which would be camera operation, composition, and light.
Once we’re familiar and comfortable with the basics, we’ve got a good foundation from which we can experiment.
Photograph anything and everything under all light
conditions-curiosity should be leading our way, not rules.
And if we find ourselves thinking we’re doing it wrong, remember, as long as the picture works, there’s no right way to do photography.
The only mistake we can make is not making the photograph at all.
Study and Practice, Make Pictures, and Question Everything
I can help you with that.
One way I could help you is through my Introduction to Photography class.
I’ve designed that class to help photographers understand how to use their cameras effectively, and understanding helps us find our own way as photographers.
And in finding our own way as photographers, we’re as unconventional as anyone could get.
If you want something more personal, DC Private Photography Lessons let you work at your own pace and focus on what matters to you.
Or, if you like the idea of having 24/7 access to video tutorials related to my classes and the ability to contact me for questions, then my Online Learning Platform is the way to go.
Whatever path we take, we gotta make it our unique path.
And remember, we don’t take
pictures— we make pictures.
When you’re ready to stop following the crowd and start making thoughtful, intentional, unique pictures that mean something to you, get in touch with me.
Keep making pictures, keep asking questions, and if you want me to write about something, all you gotta do is reply to this email and let me know.
I’ll help you be a better photographer—let’ study and practice photography together.
Ways to learn with me are below and the Photography Basics-Introduction To Photography class start soon.
