bride and groom at their wedding reception
People are always search for their own artistic style, trying endlessly to find themselves and become some unique and brilliant artist. Finding and defining your style as an artist or photographer can take some time. But the funny thing about it is that most people that are searching for their own style already have one, they just do not know it. Their style may be in plain site but they cannot see it, or it may be buried between various types of works. Many developing artists, photographers included, are told to emulate the styles of famous photographers that they like. While this is a great exercise to analyze these various styles, they can sometimes lead to the camouflaging of your true style because you have an image that looks like Ansel Adams and one that looks like Richard Avedon or maybe Brassai. Many people find their true style when they stop looking for it. I had this experience when I was in graduate school studying photography. My first semester I took a class aimed at finding your photographic style. And by the end of this class I had defined my style. I was so happy that after all of those years of photography I had finally found my personal artistic style. Then I pulled out some images that I have taken years before when I was beginning photography. And there it was, the same style that I had just discovered. So my style was established way before I ‘found’ it. It was the old ‘not being able to see the forest through the trees’ scenario. The whole process is very much like the Zen Buddhism idea of finding by not looking. Once I stopped looking for my unique style I found it. I was making more straight documentary photography images and found, through the good advice of a few mentors, that I wanted to express myself more. So I added a fine art, nostalgic, romantic flare to my work. Once I stopped trying to look like someone else, I had my unique style.
Sometimes we put forth too much effort and try to make things fit or try to analyze everything to death. The idea of letting go and then finding the answers is a simple and refreshing one. So the challenge for those of you who are trying to find your style, in anything, is to just let it happen naturally. Go with the flow and your own personal artistic style will emerge. It has to, there really is no other way.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
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