Photo Quest Challenge #2
Stay curious. The last thing we want is to feel obligated to go out and shoot or for our photos to all look the same. To keep this from happening we continually have to step out of our comfort zone and try something different. We could shoot a different genre or style of photography, use a new post-processing technique, or even sign up for a class on a subject we've been curious about. The point is to make an effort to explore something new in order to help keep us motivated and our art fresh.
What motivates us? That is a difficult question and one worth considering. Attempting to identify what motivates us requires some serious introspection to uncover our interests, values, desires, and our passions. These influence our approach to life in general as well a how we approach our photography. "Follow your passion" is often thrown about as if we should automatically know what we are passionate about. Maybe we do know and we just haven't recognized it as our passion.
The following suggestions for finding your passion come from Corrina Gordon-Barnes:
- Start with the right perspective - meaning have the right attitude
- Think about what you've already enjoyed doing - what can you spend hours doing
- Explore ways to tie the things you like together
Yo-Yo Ma said, “Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks.”
Sammon, Rick. Photo Quest: Discovering Your Photographic & Artistic Voice (p. 35). www.writingnights.org. Kindle Edition.
How does this translate to our photography/photo art? Here are some questions we might ask ourselves:
- What do I really like to photograph? Looking through my photos, can I idenify one subject, genre or style that dominates?
- What part of the photographic workflow do I enjoy most/least? Are my skills concentrated in one area of the workflow?
- What other activities do I enjoy that could benefit my photography? Travel, cooking, nature, sports?
What is needed to be a photographer and/or photo artist? The answer includes of course, knowledge, skill and gear--to begin with. What else? The list includes some items we can purchase. Skills can be learned. Do these things make an artist? Of course not.
Being an artist requires much more but we've concentrated on the following: keeping things fresh and finding our passion as it pertains to our photography. We all know the saying about how illogical is it to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Keeping it fresh is the exact opposite and we can do this by staying curious.
