The Strength Of Photography...You Strive To Make Your Picture
Last week I watched an interview with Bruce Gilden on the Street Photography site and especially one thing he said struck a chord with me: "The strength of photography...you strive to make your picture."
In order to create great images, you need to know about the history of (street) photography, and you need to photography who and what you are.
To start with knowing photography history, what images have been created before and how these images have been created: you need to learn by looking. Look at other photographer's work, understand what they did and why they created certain images, and learn to know what you like and don't like. And then take your photography from there.
The main message, however, is 'learn'. Do not imitate what you see. Make your own pictures. That is why in my opinion looking and learning from other photographers best should be done by looking at images in photo books or at exhibitions. I know that there are a lot of online images being created new every day: just have a look at Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. But learning from photo books and exhibitions is better for two reasons:
printed images look (and feel) different than images on a screen;
images posted on social media are often just posted to get the 'likes', and as a result, often are already 'copies' of other images that got many 'likes' and led to the poster getting many 'followers'.
After having learned about photography, make sure that you create images that are aligned with what and who you are, and with your interests. Don't create images because someone else was successful with similar images, don't create images that are not aligned with the stories you want to tell.
Take what you learned and bring it to the next level, improve on it, and develop your own style, striving to make your picture.
This process will take some time. So, to be or become a photographer who creates strong images you need to be patient and don't give up too soon.
This interview strongly resonated with me and made me realize that my photographic journey is not over yet. There is a lot more to learn, a lot more to explore.
For the full interview:
Bruce Gilden, 9th May 2017.
Video by: Street Photography