How To Find Your Style as a Fashion Photographer
One of the questions that I seem to get asked the most lately is "how long did it take you to find your style?" or "how can I find my style as a photographer?"
The truth is there isn't an easy answer to this question (lol is there ever an easy answer to anything creative?!). I've been actively taking photographs myself for over 10 years (I started when I was 15, I'm now 27).That's actually a really long time to have a camera in your hand! So I've been going at this for a very long time... and honestly? I feel like I'm only just starting to really, truly, understand what my style is.
I do think that there are a few things that you can do though, so here's some help.
Shoot, a lot. As I mentioned above, I've been shooting for over ten years. I couldn't even tell you anywhere near how many images I've taken in that time, but I'm sure it'll be in the millions by now. I've probably shot something every week since then. And I truly think that one of the only ways to really work out what your style is as a photographer, is by taking a ton of photos. Style isn't something you can really plan, it's something that comes out of you organically. It's instinctual. Sure, you can work at it, and develop it, but knowing what you truly want to create...that comes from within.
I really encourage you to listen to this speech by Ira Glass about developing your eye as an artist, because it's something that I go back to time and time again. Click here.
Give Yourself Time: Its so easy to be impatient with ourselves, but just as I said above, you need to shoot a lot, so you can't expect your style to develop quickly. In fact, its something I would say you shouldn't rush at all. Quite the opposite. You want to give yourself the time to explore, to experiment, to test ideas out. You'll probably find that as you try to work out what your personal style is, you go a bit all over the place. I certainly have!
But funny enough, there always seems to be some kind of similar thread between everyones work. But you can't find out what that is until you've spent a lot of time shooting, and tried lots of different things. So give yourself plenty of time... years, in fact!
Look at What Personally Interests You: In the age of social media, it's sooooo easy to get distracted by whats trendy. I fell for this myself a few years ago, when I discovered the trendy "travel photographers" of Instagram. I found myself quite inspired by those images, and really sucked in.... and I began to follow a lot of photographers with that style of work.
There's nothing wrong with that style - it's beautiful, and a lot of those photographers are now extremely successful and they take amazing images. The problem was though, that that was all I was seeing. So I began to think that that was the kind of work that I needed to create.
The problem with that was that those kinds of images weren't me. I'm not a travel photographer, and I probably never will be. I noticed over time that I was taking images, and trying to make my images look like theirs.
I see this happen to a lot of us, when we see what's trendy, or see what someone else is doing, and think that if we do that too, it'll make us successful, or we'll finally feel creatively fulfilled. That's just not how it works!
I actually unfollowed a lot of those travel photographers, and spent some time reconnecting with what inspired me the most, and what felt true to me. It worked, and these days, I'm able to follow a lot of them again, only this time I can be inspired, but not feel like I need to emulate them in any way.
Look for Similarities In Your Work: Now I know what you're thinking - you still don't know what you're actually looking for. So when it comes to style, I think the best start you can give yourself is to open up your portfolio, or a bunch of your favourite shoots, and begin to dissect them. Really study your images, and pull them apart. What is it about them that you like? What similarities do they all have with one another? What are some key words you'd use to describe these images? What kind of light did you use? What kind of model is present? And what kind of clothes is she wearing? How have you edited your images? Are they always warmer in tone? Cooler? Do you like to desaturate, or add saturation?
I find mind mapping really helpful, so I often will stick an image in the centre of a page, and just brain dump any words or phrases which come to my mind.
For my work, words like: romantic, feminine, strong, nostalgic, colourful, contrasty, soft, dreamy all come out time and time again. Even if I shoot in studio with artificial light, I try to take it back to these key words. Once you've got your key words, it becomes easier and easier for you to hone in on your style, and keep recreating work that will fit in well with the rest of what you've already shot.
