Whats your inner photography vision?

(reposted Feb 2015)

I was talking to a friend about photography recently, and she blithely commented “if you are taking photos this good then you will do weddings, right?”.

She was quite surprised when I replied an answer of “No”. I am still very new at this and wedding photography is a quite specialised artform that requires a level of experience and skill that I do not have. And to be quite honest, it isn’t really a particular passion of mine. My response was that I would happily be a second shooter, and lurk around the edges of the event, and take the ‘other’ style of shots.

She also asked me what else I liked to shoot. I have previously commented here that ‘I will shoot anything that stays still long enough’ and that remains the case.

But there are some things for which I do have a particular photographic vision:

Birds – because they are such a difficult subject given they can fly, are hard to get near, and move quickly they are (to me) the ultimate challenge. And as I don’t have funds to afford the huge lens to get the shots, I have to be clever, and try and get closer which adds to the challenge.

Animals in general – cute fuzzy critters generally provide opportunities for nice shots. But, as they say in Hollywood, never act with children or animals, as they are unpredictable and difficult to work with. So like birds, there is an element of challenge

Sunsets, Sunrise, Clouds, Extreme Weather, Pretty Lights, Fire, Shiny things, Reflections, Flowers

Mostly I strive for two things in my photography from a creative point of view

1. To capture and record a moment that is not normally captured and seen so I can share it with others

2. To try and capture a different view of the world, something different, something reflecting me or my view, an outward expression of my inner photographer.

The above image is my current favourite example of a different view. Happened to be where this was with a camera and got this shot. And yet its a fixed landmark, been there for years and in a city of approx 500000 people *everyone* who saw this asked “so what was the special occasion for the lights” – no one (including me) realised they do this every night 🙂

Point 1 is one of the reasons I like to photograph dancers, because they are the ones performing, and otherwise they never see themselves from that point of view, so to them it is a *different* view

Point 1 was made quite clear to me with a recent sunset photo I shared around work, I had several people comment ‘where do you see these sunsets, cos I never see ones that look like that’

Simple answer is, I stalk sunsets. I start checking out the sky late afternoon, and seeing what the light and the clouds are doing, and prepare to race home and grab the camera (as the days are getting shorter). And 90% of the time they are a non event. Its the other 10% that make it worth the effort:)

And I guess thats the point of my vision, I *see* the potential in the sunset, and its about being in the right place at the right time to capture it if it happens. Sometimes its purely serendipity, but sometimes a little planning and thought and vision go a long way 🙂

Is that what differentiates a holiday snapper from a photographer?

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