Trying to find inspiration as it seems like I am "seeing" less as I become better technically. (post partly inspired by sergio's comment on the a man to fish live blog about following war/news photographers)
Do you...
1) follow other wedding photographers?
2) follow non-wedding photographers
3) read photography books?
4) look at non-photographic art?
5) sit at a street corner and watch?
6) other?
My goal is to capture fleeting honest moments that can never be reproduced again. I think that the great street photographers (Erwitt, Winogrand, HCB, Vivian Maier) were able to do this more than any other genre of photography. also, Annie Leibovitz's 'A Photographer's Life' had a HUGE impact on the way I photograph my own family...and ultimately weddings. I am also BLOWN AWAY by Arnold Newman's portraits.
canerino wrote:
My goal is to capture fleeting honest moments that can never be reproduced again. I think that the great street photographers (Erwitt, Winogrand, HCB, Vivian Maier) were able to do this more than any other genre of photography. also, Annie Leibovitz's 'A Photographer's Life' had a HUGE impact on the way I photograph my own family...and ultimately weddings. I am also BLOWN AWAY by Arnold Newman's portraits.
I have been meaning to go back and try to write down the names you mentioned.... So far Erwitt and Winogrand are exactly what I was looking for ( and they use a lot of "new" trends in wedding photography).
SloPhoto wrote:
I have been meaning to go back and try to write down the names you mentioned.... So far Erwitt and Winogrand are exactly what I was looking for ( and they use a lot of "new" trends in wedding photography).
interesting how these 'new trends' were being used in the 1950s, huh?
I'm purposely giving you a 1-6 response because you told me not to.
1. Mainly I answered you this way because I do not really follow what the trendy things are today. I do what makes me happy and my client happy.
2. I do not follow other wedding photographers, especially in my area. I don't care what they are doing. When you start following other wedding photographers then you start to think you need to be like then. So I don't care what they do and I just produce what I Like and what I want to produce. I also don't really follow other non wedding photographers because when I am not doing photography related stuff I am trying out other things in life and dont really have time for it.
3. I never read photography books. I do read other art books and find inspiration in fine art that I like.
4. I love art in general. Doesnt matter the form. I just love it. Physical, audio, visual. I love it all.
5. Hell yea I sit on the sidelines and watch. When I learn the most and get my inspiration from is watching moms and wannabe photographers take photos at events that I am at just to drink beer and have fun at. I watch what they do and what they try and capture. It teaches me what the basic client wants or tries to get on their own. It then gives me ideas on how to take photos at my next event. AN example. I was at a community day and was enjoying a beer and sandwich while watching my son ride some fun rides. There was a mom taking or should I say trying to take photos of her kids on a ride. She totally had no idea what she was doing, under and over exposed everything (i was standing right behind her so I saw her camera) and she either tilted the camera to try and be artsy but made it look like the kids were falling off the ride or the had so much motion blur the photo was just bad. SO my next shoot I took the kids to a park. I remembered what that mom wanted and I did the same stuff with this other moms kids but used motion blur properly,did shots with proper angles and exposed over or under properly to give a look I wanted. Mom was so happy and so was I. Could I have done this without observing the other faktographer mom? Sure I could have. But it was a nice reminder to remember to do things the client wants and what the client normally cant do or produce on their own. REason why they hire us in the first place.
6. Where I get my real inspiration from is my subscriptions to magazines. I have a ton of subscriptions. A few of my favs are, Vogue, Rollingstone, Elle, Instyle, glamour, seventeen, the source. Yes I flip through them all. Hardly ever read the articles as they annoy the shit out of me. But looking at the pictures and seeing what is going on, what styles are out there, and more is where I get my inspiration from.
SloPhoto wrote:
Trying to find inspiration as it seems like I am "seeing" less as I become better technically. (post partly inspired by sergio's comment on the a man to fish live blog about following war/news photographers)
Do you...
1) follow other wedding photographers?
2) follow non-wedding photographers
3) read photography books?
4) look at non-photographic art?
5) sit at a street corner and watch?
6) other?
Honestly, mostly music and life. Music makes me "feel" and I also think music has a great deal to do with individuality. Life is very precious and what makes it so is the connections we share with others. That's what I'm after in my wedding photography. A feeling, a sense of individuality and the connections two people share. I stopped looking at photography for inspiration a while back because it was just leading me down another rabbit hole.
