How i found the type of photography I love doing and how you can find yours.
In January of 2021 I was about to quit photography. I have been playing around with it off and on for about 10 plus years with no real direction or idea of what i wanted to do with it. So I asked myself the hardest question that anyone can ask themselves about anything.
Why did I start doing this in the first place?
I really thought about it hard. Am I doing this for fun? Sure. Am I doing this so I can have a side hustle? maybe. Am I doing this to be famous? not really. I looked over my early photos and after a while it hit me. I got into photography because of video editing. I love editing videos. I can easily sit in front of an editing bay for 12 hours, get into a flow, editing a 5 min montage and not notice that I did not eat or use the bathroom all day. My only caveat was that the footage/idea had to be my own. I could not stand editing things for others. It’s not that i couldn’t do it or couldn’t collaborate, it’s just that I loved the feeling of working on my own artistic vision irrespective of anyone else liking it or not. That was it, I enjoyed the art!
I made the switch to photography because it was a faster medium (especially once everything became digital). I was able to take artistic photos faster than I could make my own videos with creative cuts. The problem was that I did not know that what I was drawn to was the art of it all. I spent so many years trying to be a street photographer, portrait photographer, architecture photographer, travel photographer, I did not even want to touch wedding photography (way too much pressure). Macro, Astro, underwater, name a style I probably have tried it, researched it, and attempted to find that high I got from video editing.
It was only when I asked myself that question that it hit me. I enjoyed the ART of photography! So the geek in me researched if there was a type of photography that allowed me to be artistic without having to answer to anyone. Fine Art photography was it. Seeing other artists’ work took my breath away and I knew this was it. This is the style of photography I needed to be doing.
Am I upset that I had to go through so many styles to know which I loved doing the most, absolutely not. I believe each style I explored added something to my fine art work and myself. Do I wish it didn’t take so long…That is a blog for another day :-)
The idea here is to not give up, I almost did and I can tell you for a fact that once you are about to give up is when you are about to find what you are looking for, even if what you are looking for is to stop what you are doing. Ask yourself the hard questions and honestly answer them this is how you will know for sure.
