How To Come Up With Original Ideas as a Fashion Photographer

I get asked all the time how i get my ideas for shoots. I get it - when you see everyone else's ideas and think they're really cool, it's easy to think that you could never get ideas as amazing as that. 

I definitely felt like that too. I used to be told ALL the time that my work was “too commercial” and “not arty enough." Those kinds of comments really got to me, and I used to tell myself that I was never going to be as good a fashion photographer as everyone else because my brain just doesn't work in the same way as everyone else.

But more and more I embrace what ideas I DO get, and that's always where my favourite and best shoots come from.

So how can YOU also start to come up with original ideas? 

A fantastic book that I can highly recommend is called “Steal Like An Artist” by Austin Kleon. It's a tiny book, filled primarily with illustrations, and you could honestly read it in about an hour. 

Essentially, Austin explains how there isn't such a thing as “original ideas” anymore. Everything's been done! All art is a created because an artist has been influenced by lots of other art, life experiences, books, films, etc. 

The key is to surround yourself with lots and lots of amazing artists and things that inspire you. That's exactly what I do.

I'm personally obsessed with the work of Julia Margaret Cameron - one of the very first female photographers. Her work is so beautiful, and I'm always going back to it for ideas - be it ideas on technique, mood, model. I take different elements of her work, and use it to inform what I do.

What makes your photographs original is when you take elements of what makes you, you, and embed those elements into your imagery. 

If you'd like to learn more about how I get my ideas and how I bring them to life, my online course and group coaching program “Storytelling For Success” is currently open for enrolment! There are only 25 20 spaces left so that everyone gets to really immerse themselves and get the intimate experience that I think will really benefit everyone from this course. So if you're keen to join us, definitely grab your space now. Just click the button below.

And if now isn't a good time, no worries! That book by Austin Kleon is absolutely amazing, and has been so helpful to me in my career. I know it will help you, too. :)