Now and then my sister and I reminisce about our childhood. We are only two years apart, so our experiences are very similar. Often I would mention something minor about a shared experience and my sister would sometimes comment,” I don’t remember that!”. It is not uncommon for that to happen; we are all individuals and have our perspectives. Shared experiences do not guarantee shared memories. The significance of the moment is interpreted differently by each person. How boring it would be if we all saw, thought, and reacted the same way. The benefit of our uniqueness is that it drives our creative process.
Have you ever taken a tour and seen everyone taking the same picture? When comparing images later, you find that most of them look similar, but if you take a closer look you find a small difference. They may be all of the beautiful church that you just toured, but someone might have gotten the trees to the right of the building which softens the hard surface of the structure. Someone else might have concentrated on the funny gargoyles on the church roof. While another person at a wider angle included the mountains in the background which gave scale to the size of the church. Even though you were photographing the same subject, you each saw something quite different. Seeing things differently creates a unique perspective and this perspective is the first step in developing your creative photographic eye.
To help nurture your creative style, it is important to try different techniques to challenge you artistically. Technical aspects of your camera are important to master when you are first starting off in photography, but sometimes too much technology will leave you lacking in the artistic creativity necessary for good work. It is just as important to nurture your photographic “eye”. Seeing an image creatively also takes practice. When teaching, I always told my digital photography students to fill the whole memory card. Film is expensive so mastering the technical aspects of an image is important before you click the shutter button. Digital on the other hand is almost endless, easy to delete, and start from scratch again, so you can shoot away with no cost (well maybe the cost of “time”). That being said, here are a few tips to get your creative photographic juices flowing:
When shooting an image, take the same photo at several different angles. One straight on, one from the top, one from the bottom, one from the side, and one from the back. Compare how each of the different angles affects the light, shadows, and feel of the image.
Another tip is to try different lighting on your subject. Much easier to do in studio but also a fun project to do with landscaping. Take the same image in the morning, noon, and evening. I once did this for a commercial photography class and was pleasantly surprised to see how the daylight (or lack thereof) affected the feel of the image.
Distance is another good experiment for growing your creative eye. It is surprising to see how an image can change when you are up close as opposed to being very far away.
I am a detailed person; I love to read the fine print and watch the credits at the end of the movie. This same detailed technique is a good way to expand your creativity. Getting close to an object, landscape, or person and only showing part of the subject can bring a new perspective to your image.
Once you try these experiments, you will begin to see your unique imprint on your photography. These mini-lessons are an easy way to get your creative juices flowing and start you on the road to developing your creative style.