having a little trouble here as a new photographer, sort of a depression of sorts...

[Charlie Lemay]

We all see what we expect to see. Most of our expectations are actually the expectations of others for us. Finding your own unique personal vision is about shedding preconceptions to uncover it behind all those expectations of others. I teach photography in a prep school. My students are usually at a loss as to what to photograph. I prepared a set of goals to help them discover their own authentic "seeing." It seems to help them. You can read about this here:

http://www.charlielemay.net/azsfiles/zonepg5.htm

 

[celluloidprop]

More than other art forms, we're inundated with photography to an absurd degree. Everything you see, you've probably seen before, done 'better' by Eggleston or Shore or Arbus or Winogrand or etc.. That's not even counting the terrible photography you see constantly (online or in ads, etc.), the images that kind of depress you about the basic state of photography.

Find your project, the story you want to tell. I don't foresee myself relocating to NYC and getting to emulate the great street photographers there, or having the opportunity to cross the country ala Robert Frank, etc. etc. etc.. I'm 30, and while I'm still young and single I have roots here I can't walk away from.
So I've started to think of my desires in terms of a portrait of where I do live (Dallas/Ft Worth) - that can encompass so much, from documentary to portraiture to street of a non-traditional sort.

 

[Ducky]

Make a book. Seriously, go to Blurb, get their software and find a dozen or so photos you like and make a book. You will be surprised how good they will look.

 

[kdemas]

Enjoy your shooting moments, they're yours and you can do with them as you like. Forks and knives, if you like it take it. People, places, things... express what you see in the way you feel is right, whether or not someone has "done it before".

Every moment brings a difference, nobody has ever seen the scene before you exactly as it is at this moment. Even the most common things, example: a shot of the Eiffel Tower, are unique at this given moment... the grass is different, the people are different, the cloud formations are different, the wear on the fascade is different, your height and angle of shooting may be different...

Take joy in your moment, in your way of expression. To me it's everything.

 

[konicaman]

Suppose Leonardo had said: I am not going to paint Mona Lisa - there are so many good portraits with a fuzzy landscape in the background already...

 

[shadowfox]

again, thanks everyone. It's just a passing moment. Had 'em before and I'll have 'em again.

gonna go take some photos now. glad the site is back up and I especially like looking at the photos on the gallery.

Here's another perspective.

A friendly warning: Read it only if you want to get rid of that feeling for good. Some people (not you, I hope) don't want it to go away, so they can use it as an excuse next time.

I *never* once felt like I'm copying or emulating anyone. Not because I don't admire the masters and their works, or because I'm in self denial, but because I follow this line of thinking:

When I see a beautiful photograph, I don't memorize it, but I store my impressions of it in my mind, and sometime in the future, when I see a scene that triggers one of those impressions, I took a picture of it. I call that process synthesizing.

The result is always a photograph that has something in it that is uniquely mine. Sometimes it's better (subjective) than those similar ones made by others, sometimes it's not. But both are valid results of my effort. And more importantly, a few things happen:

1. My standard grew the more I do this
2. I start to recognize what elements of photograph that is uniquely mine. Some people call it style, you can call it whatever you want 🙂
3. I get motivated to shoot again

And I don't waste time being depressed when my picture sucks (subjective), because I am too busy collecting more impressions from other people's photos to be used the next time I get a chance to shoot. And the cycle continues.

 

[ferider]

Why do you photograph ? Your goals too ambitious, maybe ?

Go to a party, check out how people talk to each other .... somebody tells a story. Somebody else listens. A woman laughs. Etc.

That's similar to what photography is for me. And the process is lots of fun just by itself - makes me forget other things, work in particular. Good enough, IMO.

Roland.

 

[f16sunshine]

It's a healthy feeling you are having. Something to give you are bar to get over.
It's not what has been done before that matters but your vision of it. Photographs are a conversation. The Photo could be seen as the "words" of the photographer. If you feel like you don't understand what you are saying, try and think about that when looking through the viewfinder.
What others have done is not important. Think about listening to only the Stones, The Who, and The Beetles for the last 40 years. If Pearl Jam and Oasis etc... gave up because they could not do what others had done they would not exist today. You can apply that to anything.

 

[ferider]

BTW, didn't Frank shoot some of these knives and forks ? 🙂

 

[Richard G]

You miss the point altogether, Richard. Barnwulf's photographs reflect neither a passion for photography nor for galvanized iron. They are about a passion for form and light. Those are his subjects, and those are the things he is passionate about.

Thanks Dave. It looks to me like we agree. I re-read what I posted. Have another look yourself.

 

[barnwulf]

A lot of responses here. If you get back this far you need to understand that everyone has been the same place that you are. There are no shortcuts and you will never figure this out just by thinking about it. You have to shoot photographs. Will they be bad, probably a lot of them will. Will you be satisfied, probably not. You will learn something from it and it will improve if you keep at it. As someone else suggested, look at a lot of different photographers and if there is one that you like a lot try to shoot some things like they do. It will be a place to start and you will work your way through it all and you will eventually be shooting things that are yours. Photograph something that you like to look at. Shoot lots of pictures of whatever that is from all angles and under different lighting conditions. You will figure it all out and you will be on your way. You can't worry about what others think. Get in a photography class and give that a try. Show your work here and see what others say. There is a lot of help here on RFF. Just shoot some things and post them. Good luck and keep at it. Jim

 

[jarski]

dont have very concrete advice, but guess a vision or some theme in mind before taking camera in hand is helpful, to get photos that people who dont know you, might like. narrower theme, more helpful.

personally, biggest inflation of my photos happens in period from previous month, to past five years, older ones start to be interesting again as reminders of life lived.

 

[isoterica]

If you look at photos in a broader sense there really is little that you can do that someone hasn't done before you but if you consider, for example, a photography group all lined up to shoot a sunset over the ocean, even though they are all shooting the same thing each one will bring to it their own perspective.

Photography is more about the photographer than what he is photographing particularly when you are photographing something with meaning. You interpret it with your eyes, you capture it with the camera and you convey it to your viewers as you saw it, not as it was.

Consider this, even if you are feeling depressed about your work as I am similarly right now, that tone will bleed through your images as well and bring to them something unique. You.. really can't fail though not everyone will necessarily associate with your vision and it might look a little like so-and-so or whats-his-name.

Emulating an artist to learn how to take better photos will eventually evolve into your own unique style, it can't help but to. Accidentally mirroring another photographer means nothing more than you are at that moment in time on a similar path. It's kinda like walking down the sidewalk and turning left. The other might turn right but you both started out going straight and it's okay to see the same or similar things.

You will evolve is what it comes down to and we all have emotional moments whether we are elated on reviewing something magnificent we have captured or lamenting that everything we do seems tired, overdone, uninteresting.

A suggestion might be to change cameras for a while. Camera's have auras. You will shoot differently with a fixed focal length film camera than a telephoto on a dslr. You will shoot differently with a macro lens than you will a lensbaby. Another suggestion is concentrate on shooting only people's hands.. or on dogs.. or on flowers peeling away one petal at a time. Concentrating on one general subject [though always take a shot of whatever else spectacular might come up] teaches you to look at that more deeply, more creatively.

And as others have suggested joining a group might give you some companionship as well as inspiration. Don't let these temporary feelings make you give up what you love to do though. In life, sometimes we have to muddle through and it isn't easy but as I said even if you are feeling glum you can still crank out some amazing work.

There is a great group of people here to support you too.. see how many responses you got? You'll move beyond it.. so will I 🙂

 

[mathomas]

Having a project helps me. Check out the "100 Strangers" project on flickr. It's helping me get comfortable with shooting people, and especially people I don't know.


100 strangers: philip (1/100) by mike thomas, on Flickr

 

[Saganich]

I'll try to explain it the best I can:

Sometimes I see a picture....

You can only see a picture after shooting, developing, printing, framing, and hanging. There is a whole lot conscious and unconscious processing that goes into an image, seeing is only the first step. Know if your visualizing and only conjuring up these other known works and artists then welcome to the club. It's time to dig deep and figure out what really matters in your life. Then you will see things within your own context.

CS

 

[ian]

Ask yourself WHY you want to take a particular photo or perhaps why you want to do photography at all! I doubt it is jthe process of "focusing and firing" in and of itself. It may be the need to fulfill a creative need or to record a special moment, person or place in time. Whatever the reason is it is YOUR reason, YOUR photo, YOUR experience and THAT makes it worthwhile because no matter what, no one else has done it exactly the way you have!!!!

 

[charjohncarter]

We all go through this. But like Andrew Wythe said, 'you have to go out everyday and paint.' I don't know if you develop your own film, but that really makes a psychological difference. You are really involved with everything. When you get it down, even a picture of freeway can be a winner. Also buy a good hand meter (personally I would pay more for a good meter than a camera), because now you are totally connected to your images. Any mistake are down to you.

 

[Hjortsberg]

Ask yourself WHY you want to take a particular photo or perhaps why you want to do photography at all! I doubt it is jthe process of "focusing and firing" in and of itself. It may be the need to fulfill a creative need or to record a special moment, person or place in time. Whatever the reason is it is YOUR reason, YOUR photo, YOUR experience and THAT makes it worthwhile because no matter what, no one else has done it exactly the way you have!!!!

thanks, man. that's right. that's exactly right. Thank you all

 

[kuzano]

Here's what I figured out... works for me.....

Here's what I figured out... works for me.....

It may be true to say "everything has been shot".... Why should I duplicate all that work?

Well, the far bigger revelation is that "NOT ALL THOSE IMAGES HAVE BEEN SEEN"!!!!!!!!!!!

Part of that revelation is in first realizing that although everything has been shot, you haven't seen everything captured on film or digitally.

Another part of that revelation is that the majority of the people who see your work HAVE NOT seen any of the other variations of the same subject....

It's true... Buck Up and shoot. Do your own thing.

 

[one90guy]

I went through a very low period, 2007 I became disabled. One day while sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I went to the closet and dug out my old film camera. I tried to take images like I saw in the magazines and online. It did not take long to see I was no where close. So I just started clicking on anything that caught my eye and I started seeing images that I liked. When you have the urge go out and use the camera.