Uniquely YOU

Everyone one of us is born unique. We become unique when we find our own strengths and capabilities. Being unique is what makes you different than others.

In today's world, everyone has access to a camera. It may be as simple as the camera on their phones, but they still have one! This means millions, even billions of people are taking photos everyday. Now that is a lot of competition! This makes making your own images stand out even harder. Let's not even talk about the AI productions that have many photographers nervous for what the future in hands on photography holds. You have to find a way to be different, but how? The best way is to develop a style that is uniquely YOU!

When people look at my work I want them to instantly know it is mine, or someone trying to copy it. Recently i've had someone tell me my work doesn't look "professional", when in reality I think they just had someone else's style in mind for their photographs. Which is fine, but I like to think all my photographs have a little bit of me in every one. So when looking at my portfolio, or photos I post on social media, I'd like to think that they have an idea of the images they are getting back before they book with me.

Ask any artist or photographer that has developed their own unique style and they will give you a different answer. For most, there will be something that's driving them to create the way they do. I like to ask myself, WHY? Why am I doing it? I want you to look around your enviroment right now. Whether your at home, walking around, or at work. What did you see? Did you see a billboard, or maybe that cereal box you left on your counter from this morning, or maybe just a magazine on your work desk. You will come in contact with something called photography. Almost everywhere you go you have been impacted by photography. Photography impacts us to the point that it is an important part of our lives in some aspect. Photography's extensive depth of possibilties and the enjoyment and need of images is amazing. Each of us has done SOMETHING with a picture even if you dont see yourself as a photographer. And this shows us that photography really IS important. And that simple reason, the impact and endless possibilties that photography brings, is my awnser for that WHY am I doing it question.

Now, going back to the camera on our phones, with ease of uploading our photos on the internet has made the number of images in our world expand greatly. This also molds your perception of what you might think looks "professional". Have you ever walked into an art muesuem and thought, "I could easily paint that". We all have let's face it. This is the same dilemma photographers face everyday. The amount of times someone sees an image and thinks they can recreate it so easily if they had the same expensive camera equipment used. This is where the famous quote "Your photos are so much better than mine just because you have an expensive camera". And this is not the case AT ALL. You can go to the same place, at the same time of day, a thousand times and never completely reproduce the exact conditions of any previous encounter. That is the challenging situation the photographer faces every time they pick up a camera. I believe that it is in how the photographer overcomes this challenge that defines their own unique style. It is how our unique vision of the world interacts with how the world is being presented, that produces that uniquely YOU style.

The point I am trying to make here is that we should all stop trying to please to the public eye, whether it's in your art or in your life. I found the biggest diffuculty was my ego and the fear of being laughed at for doing something so repeatable by anyone, but photography is not a technique sport, it is a creative pursuit. And in realizing this I think im on the path of finding my Uniquely ME style, even if it's not seen as "professional" to some.