Photographic Style
I'm not sure that I have a style, - maybe that's something you can decide once you've looked at my pictures. What I can share with you is the thought process that I go through when working with my camera, which maybe generates a style? Irrespective of the subject matter I am shooting, whether it is in a busy city street, working on a beach, in a wood, or out in the countryside, the one thing I seek is simplicity. I try to achieve it by careful lens selection (focal length), viewpoint (camera position), composition (balance), clean backgrounds, and sympathetic light.
Natural or available light is not something that we can control, but I invariably allow the light that I have, on any particular day, to dictate what and where I photograph. I amused a friend when he took me out for the day, and down onto a beach. It was bright and sunny, (harsh and contrasty), and not really the sort of lighting I could use. So I walked to the back of the beach, into the shadow created by a cliff, and happily photographed the rock detail. Sometimes I'll wait for a cloud to pass over the sun, and thereby soften the light. If I need directional light then I'll wait for that too, or return when the conditions are right.
Simplicity is also achieved by getting rid of distractions. I only feel comfortable using a proper DSLR camera, - it allows me to 'see' exactly what the sensor will capture. The viewfinder allows me to really involve myself in an image, (in fact if I could climb into the viewfinder I probably would!) I examine a framed image acutely, checking for things around the edge of the frame that might draw the eye or distract, and work hard to exclude them. I look at the way the eye is led around an image, and endeavour to arrange and compose things so that it takes the viewer in the direction I want them to go.
Working on a tripod helps this method of working. It is a much slower, more deliberate, and considered way of photographing. I can't always use one of course, but it is my preference. A camera mounted tripod gives me the ability to frame a shot accurately, and if there is a distracting bright stone, or an annoying twig intruding, I can walk into the scene, move it, and return to fire the shutter.
My aim wherever I am shooting is to try and be different, to respond to a location and use my eyes to select a part of the scene that makes that particular place special, or distinctive. I never want to emulate or copy another photographer's images, I want to express my own individuality of vision, and I try to be creative.
The images I produce are a personal selection of the scene before me, an abstraction of the part that interests me. They are taken to please no one, (except me), and to satisfy a creative itch.
FOOTNOTE David Noton writes very effectively about Photographic Style:-
Developing a style comes with time - it can't be forced. It's a process of investigation and inspiration, and it gradually comes. The danger is, of course, that you evolve a look and a style and never deviate from it, but it should be something that is constantly evolving, as you're trying new things. There's nothing wrong with being inspired by other photographers' or artists' work - that's all part of the process. There's a thin line between being inspired by something and copying it of course, but artists throughout the generations have been inspired by one another.
