Step out of your comfort zone
If you do what you always do, you will get what you always get. A well-known saying that rings true. In the case of photography, a safe choice
In the case of photography, a safe choice; after all, you are adept at your type of photography. But why not step out of your comfort zone?
A few weeks ago, I had an outing with the photography club as a wrap-up for the summer. In Amersfoort, we went out in small groups. There were three routes set out for each group, so that not everyone walked like a ribbon after each other. The idea was to shoot only with your phone and then edit these images on your phone. Editing in the sense of going wild with different apps, combining photos, applying extreme filters, you name it.
Now, I use my phone fairly often for taking photos - after all, I always have it with me, where I deliberately have to take my compact Ricoh GRII with me - but I only edit those smartphone photos with some basic adjustments like contrast, vividness, saturation, vignetting, push-through and blocking.
Very different was this Saturday where I was thus photographing with a different lens. Firstly, in a city, something I don't do very often. I deliberately did not want to engage in street photography, but went looking for elements in an image that I could combine well in a blend of several photos. I paid particular attention to structures and shapes. Buildings with a certain look, made exciting compositions by placing doors, window frames and the like in the image. A completely different way of photographing from what I normally do. Actually, it was fun too.
Not my cup of tea
I have often participated in workshops or assignments of which I thought in advance that this was not for me. Just to discover what it was like and learn from it. A portrait workshop followed by a session in a studio with a complete lighting setup. Not my cup of tea. Too much technique. I still do the occasional portrait shoot, but preferably with existing light. Travel light is my motto.
A tabletop photography workshop or using a dropper in a tub of water. All ways of photographing that I never did afterwards because it's not quite my thing, but which have helped me in the way I photograph now.
I would therefore advise everyone to mainly do things outside your normal routine. To discover if it is something that suits you. Besides, it is always good to have tried it so you can say with certainty what you think of it. An additional advantage I mentioned earlier is the extra knowledge you take with you into your further photographic exploration. Who knows what it will bring you.
Oh, and the payoff from that Saturday?
The proceeds of that Saturday? A whole pile of photos that ended up in an archive folder on my mobile (after all, I never throw away a photo) and from that pile, about four edited photo(combinations) that I'm quite happy with and that taste like more.
To be continued…