How to Find Your Style in Photography

The elusive concept of style.

Some artists possess oeuvres so powerful they're immediately evident. I can identify a Vermeer painting through the ultramarine blues. Give me a stack of sixty images, and I’ll find the singular jewel from Vivian Maier’s catalog. I can tell a music production by The Neptunes within ten seconds, based on the four-count.

It may seem like an ineffectual pursuit to craft your own style. “There’s too much noise to cut through. Who will even see my stuff?”

However, believing that self-defeating notion would be nonsense. We don’t do that over here. You are the first and last “you” there will ever be, so charge up those batteries. There’s work to be done.

I’ve developed an equation that helps lead to the actualization of style. Sans wax poetic, it goes like so:

Worldview + Skillset + Action = Style.

Let’s begin.

Worldview

Your worldview can be understood as your prevailing beliefs, ideas, experiences, and thoughts that influence how you conduct yourself and interact with the world.

This is not to say that every artist’s creations directly manifest their life’s story, nor that every artwork is the outward expression of an artist’s feelings. Those are common, yet inaccurate assumptions, as they tend to discount the significant impact the moment of inspiration has on the artist.

Not to mention, who you are while creating, can be substantially different than who you are in day-to-day life. There’s a freedom in that.

For our purposes, consider worldview through the following questions:

• What themes do you want your photography to encompass?

• What do you want your collections of work to stand for?

• What realities of the human experience are most galvanizing to you?

The canon of Photography has existed in many forms. We’ve seen artists cultivate aesthetic prowess that highlights the beauty and dignity of the human spirit. Other artists have prioritized social commentary and the various facets of our reality. Many have made careers in commercial, business, or marketing avenues (fashion, real estate, etc.)

Considering what aspects of life you want your catalog to consist of is a great place to begin streamlining potential subject matter.

Skillset

Put simply, do you grasp/consistently work on the skills necessary to actualize your goals?

If you aim to be a Portrait or Fashion Photographer, you’re going to have to learn the advanced concepts of lighting and posing. Even further, some interpersonal communication skills, because you and your model are not separated by soundproof glass.

For my Street and Documentary Photographers, there will come a day where you’ll consider zone focusing will manual lenses. It won’t be pretty in the beginning, but if that’s something you want to excel at in order to heighten your success rate in the city, it’s a skill you’ll have to work on.

Essentially, quality work born from style doesn’t come out of thin air. If you have an idea of what you want to create, great, but it takes the skills necessary to achieve that.

My thoughts to you:

• What parts of your Photography could use some improvement?

• What books, videos or other resources may be available to sharpen those skills?

• Set aside time per week, month, etc. to work on these skills, as that’s the only way they’ll grow.

In my early days of Street Photography, I vividly remember becoming hyper-conscious of how I moved my body in general. What side of the street to walk on, when to be quick and effient vs. slow and smooth. Keeping track of how many times someone casually glanced at me leading up to a potential photo. This is a craft about people.

I spent a lot of time learning about kinesthetics and interpersonal communication during this time. Largely because I wanted to become a better communicator, but I quickly saw that these learnings overlapped (and were to the benefit) of all forms of my Photography.

Action

Applying your skills and identifying the moments that compel you are united by action.

You can know everything there is about lighting, every photo book of the 20th century, sensor size and composition. Fantastic. Are you able to apply yourself in the situations that call for it?

This extends beyond making photos, but also into building good habits around your craft. It doesn’t take many photo walks to understand that every image you come home with is not getting into the MoMA.

This by no means insinuates that these days, or those photographs, are wasted energy. You’re actually better because of them.

What’s important is that fact that you put in to exericise your eyes and your mind, and still dedicated ample time to strengthen your skills.

These efforts are where the great photographs come from, so it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things if you missed a few photos yesterday. It sucks, I’ve definitely been there, but that’s why it’s important to photograph as often as you can.

I had a stretch in 2019 where I photographed for 30+ days in a row. Multi-hour walk-a-thons. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, as those 30 days where also my first days of Street Photography.

It quickly helped me see the areas where I had no clue what I was donig, but it also led a giant sample size of work where I saw what I liked and what I didn’t.

Of that month-plus, I have four photographs that have stood the test of time and are truly special to me. One was a portrait of four women on a walk, and I was enamored by them. 

We mutually stopped at the same time to talk as we both had cameras, and a group portrait was in order. This moment truly felt like the first time I could prove to myself that I could take a quality, in-the-moment portrait of somebody.

Women on a Walk, 2019

I don’t care much for sharing settings these days, but for context, this was made at f/3.2, 1/80, ISO 2000 on a camera without IBIS. As a beginner, I couldn’t believe this image came out so well.

These lovely women not only made my day brighter by sharing their energy, but by becoming symbolic of the beautiful connections we can make through our craft through this picture.

The hundreds of hours spent during this self-assignment culminated with this image, and I finally felt like I was “getting somewhere.”

In Closing….

The beautiful thing about worldview, skillset, and action is that they evolve, so long as we do in tandem.

I hope new movies have entered your watch list, that you’ve delved into different books, and that you’ve learned new aspects of yourself that are both pretty and in need of change.

So long as we keep our hearts open to the world, and minds receptive to the vast resources of knowledge, we will build meaningful catalogs.

Even better, we will transform as artists, and as people. Life is the most unique sensation we’ll ever experience, and to be transformed by it is proof that you've lived it.