The Holistic Photographer

Holistic Guide To Photography - We are collectors

One thing amateur photographer always asks himself is Have I improved? That’s hard question to ask yourself. One good thing about photography is that you can track your skill improvement through your photos. But how are you going to do that, when you always shoot everything, everywhere? OK, some technical progress can be seen, but what about the thought process that goes into every photograph? That kind a improvement doesn’t come in days or weeks like technical does. One lightning workshop and you’ll know how to set 2 strobes and get descent portrait light.

But for IDEAS and VISION there are no workshops. You’ll need to figure them out by yourself.

So how to practice ideas and vision? For starters I’ll suggest you find a theme. I’ve chosen Bicycles since they are everywhere. Interesting shapes, colors and textures. Match it with environment and you get amazing number of interesting combinations that will never let you down. After you find a theme, start COLLECTING! First you will shoot everything, cause everything will be interesting. As time passes by, you’ll find it harder to get something new and you will have to look for new ideas and approaches to get something new and exciting to satisfy your collectors need.

Important tip:  Often as amateurs we can’t produce strong enough photos to stand on their own. It’s the truth. But if we can get couple of them on the same theme, they immediately make stronger impact to audience and have bigger value.

Positive thing about this approach is that it will develop you into a photographer that always want to try something different and will make your ideas more diverse in time.