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Towards a Personal Style - part 3 of 1 2 3 4
by Ruben Buhagiar Published
Styles
Style is notoriously difficult to pin down, though temptingly easy to make vague comments about. The most usual way of defining 'style' is by listing photographers who seem to have something in common, and letting the viewer work it out. This seems ambiguous, and really it is. In plain terms, style should be about a personal way of seeing things and this is how it should be. This is the art of photography.
The problem is that the viewer will have their own style too, so the viewer themselves will tend to compromise the way the image is perceived. The way the viewer sees the image has a lot to do with how he/she relates to it. This is directly related to their culture and experiences. However, whilst a viewer wants to be enthralled, he/she wants to see something they have seen themselves.
This is the exact opposite of what generally happens in judging competitions, however. The sad trend today is that award winning images tend to be cliches, because judges tend to prefer erring on the safe side, going along with common perceptions. Unfortunately you also get a lot of exponents who are more after piling on the awards than the actual photography. After all, everyone enjoys receiving an award. This is the sad truth, and in all honesty does not raise the level of photography one iota.
This replication is not only being seen within photography itself, but also between media. The use of super software lends itself very much towards this cause. Which is why, in order to develop a unique and personal style, one has to come down to basics again.
And let's face it, it is really not that difficult as everyone is different in his/her own way. Everyone sees the world in a different manner and everyone has his /her own insight. The difficult part is identifying and discovering it. Then one has to have the courage to go forth with it, no matter what...tweaking it along the way in order to be more fine-tuned, more powerful, more communicative.
One has also then the need to sell it. This takes time, experience and above all a listening ear; an outright will to experiment, adjust and be frank about it. No matter what, the plain truth cannot be denied and the photographer or artist has a devine right of expressing him/herself in his/her own way and to search for acceptance for this very real way of looking at things.
So, Marlene's sincere comments and reactions are very important to self-criticism, and equally important is your careful weighing of the reaction and the analysis/possible adjustment. I say 'possible' with great responsibility, for reasons already indicated above. A good tip is to walk away from the image only to have a look again at it after a week or more, depending on your rate of making images. Every image must stand the test of time.
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1st Published
last update 21/07/2022 08:49:44
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