Practical Photography - UK (2019-09)

hotogr aphyhas
al waysbeenuniqueamong
the artsforitsblendingof
scienceandcreativity.a
camerais a machine– it has
modes,settingsandfunctions.
It s lensesbendlightand,sincetheadvent
ofdigital,it createsimagesthrougha
seriesof 1s and0s. Whensomeoneis new
tothemedium,termslikeshutterspeed,
aperture,focusanddepth-of-fieldcanbe
dauntingandconfusing,butthetechnical
si deof photography,withwhichsuch
te rmsareconcerned,canbe learntand
practisedto a pointof totalfamiliarity.
thecreativeside,by contrast,is much
harderto formaliseforlearning,and
thatis particularlytrueof thenebulous
conceptof photographicstyle.

Standoutfromthecrowd
Whatdo we meanwhenwe talkabout
st ylein photographicterms?Essentially,
it ’s havinga visualconsistencyrunning

throughyourworkthatmakeseach

shotinstantlyrecognisableas ‘yours’.

thinkaboutsomefamousphotographers

whoseworkyouadmireandit’salmost

guaranteedthatyouwouldbe ableto

pi ckouttheirimagesfroma selectionof

photosandknowthatit’stheirworkby

vi rtueof thestylein whichtheyshoot.

theverybestphotographersare

usuallyso distinctivein theirmannerof

shootingas to be definedby theirstyles–

considerDavidBaileyandhisstarkblack

&whiteportraitssetagainstpurewhite

backgrounds,or Martinparr and his

colour-saturatedflightsof photographic

whi m sy. profe ssionalphotographersare

oftenhiredby clientswho wantimages

shotin thedistinctstyleforwhichthey

are famous,andmanyprosrelyupon

honinga stylisticlanguagein orderto

secure repeatwork.But amateursand

hobbyistscanalsobenefitfromfinding

a st yleof theirown.It makesyourwork

st andoutfromthecrowd,whichis vital

inthesedaysof socialmediasaturation,

and,ratherthanlimitingyourcreativity,

will giveyoua senseof ‘self’in yourwork.

Createyourownaesthetic

artistswho workin mediumssuchas

paintor claygenerallyfindtheirown

st ylesquiteearlyin theirdevelopmentas

creativepractitioners.the close,physical,

relationshipthatan artisthaswiththeir

to ols,andthefactthatno twopeople

will applypaintto a canvasin quitethe

sameway,meansthata uniquelook

will be evidentalmostfromthestart.

photographers,by contrast,havea great

w i ing a style

is such a challenge

getstarted

34 practIcalphotography

tiP

le arnthe

basicsfirst

A thoroughunderstandingof

theessentialphotographic

pr incipleswill let you

concentrateonyour

cr eativity.

developing a

style requires

a degree of

time & effort