Is Your PHOTOGRAPHIC VOICE Really Your Own?

Finding your own voice among the ever-growing noise of social media trends.

This article is a follow-up of sorts, to my earlier piece on Finding Your Inspiration for Photography, and thus can be read as a continuation to some of the steps you could take to reignite your creative spark.

My passion for photography started long before its ‘gamification’ on social media and the toxic concept of chasing arbitrary likes and followers.

Of course I would be lying if I said that I was never inspired by the works of other famous photographers and artists. However, to me, their work was just that – a source of inspiration from which I could learn how to be a better photographer.

When I was starting out, my photographs came from my own internal voice, or ‘vision’, as there were no trends which would ‘influence’ what kinds of photos I should take next, or what would make me ‘popular’.

Back then, I would usually shoot and develop rolls of film (later to be replaced with digital), and would physically keep my favourite printed work in a photo album.

These prints would usually only get seen by family, and perhaps a few of my close friends. That’s pretty much as far as ‘sharing’ my photos would go, but it was always more than enough to keep my creative spark alive.

Photography was never a ‘competition’ to see which shots would get a better response from their limited audience. In fact, that wasn’t even a concept that would enter my mind. I mean, how do you quantify a hobby?

If someone ‘liked’ a particular photo, they would sometimes ask for a print or copy, so they could also put it in their own photo album for prosperity. This was always a humbling experience.

Social media also makes it possible to keep in touch with anyone, anywhere, at any time!

When social media came along, it brought with it the awesome potential of being able to keep in touch with loved ones, and it also gave everyone the incredible power to share their work with others.

However, just as the paradox of music states that “All music of a particular generation begins to sound the same if given enough time”; the same thing started happening to photography.

The accelerated pace at which photographs were being shared around the globe, meant that trends and styles came and went very quickly, and it became more and more difficult to hear your own voice over the growing noise.

This also ushered in a new culture of digital ‘influencers’, whose constant presence on social media, as well as their high follower numbers made them the unfortunate trendsetters for the various directions that photographic styles would take, regardless of whether they were actually any good.

Styles which seemed fresh and new, would begin to feel dated almost overnight, as more and more photographers would try to emulate the ‘hottest’ trends in order to get noticed and gain more followers or subscribers.

A vicious circle that has always reminded me of a famous quote from one of my favourite movies, The Incredibles:

“When everyone’s super, no one will be”.

Not all superheroes wear capes...

Which brings me neatly to the question – How do you find out whether you are genuinely shooting from your heart, or simply to chase the next dopamine hit on your social media platform of choice?

Try this:

Select your favourite Top 10 photographs from the last two years … and print them

Why?

Because it forces you to be honest with yourself, and question whether your positive opinion of your chosen photographs is truly your own, or whether it’s influenced by their performance on social media.

In fact, the true answer hits you the very moment you begin to question whether you would actually spend real money printing any of them in the first place.

It may be a bitter pill to swallow, but if you’ve spent the last 24 months creating ‘bangers’ for ‘The ‘Gram’, then there’s a very good chance that your photographic voice has not yet truly evolved. Instead it’s more than likely influenced by current trends, and led by an ever-more oppressive mathematical algorithm.

However, if the majority of your ‘top ten’ brings you pure joy and happiness, and you can’t wait to print it and display it with pride – Congratulations - you are most likely already shooting from the heart, and you should keep going.

Taking the time to compose a photo is half the fun!

So how do you go about finding ‘your own’ voice?

The first step would be to look at how many of your top ten you would actually want to print, and use those photos as your starting point.

Note that you don’t actually have to print them (although you really should, as it’s a wonderful experience). You can, however, just put them in a separate folder so they’re easier for you to find at any time.

The next step would be to analyse what it is about these photos that makes you happy.

Is it their genre?

Perhaps you like the colours or the subject matter.

Maybe it’s how you felt on the day you took them.

Look deep into what these photos mean to you and see if you can spot a pattern forming.

The third (and perhaps the most beneficial) step would be to ask a mentor, or someone whose voice you trust (not an influencer), to go through these photos with you, to help you figure out why you like them over some of the other photographs in your collection.

Unlike social media, a good mentor is able to give you honest feedback on the long history of your work, and help to point you in a direction of true inner growth, and not simply how to follow the next trend in order to grow your online following.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, social media definitely has its benefits. The fact that you can share your work with millions of people around the world is absolutely insane, and would pretty much be considered ‘magic’ only a few decades ago.

However, it is important to understand that everyone is on a different journey of discovering their own voice and style. If trends were like airplanes, then just because a particular trend is taking off, doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be on it.

If you enjoyed this blog and feel that you got something out of it, please feel free to follow me on Twitter or Instagram; and also subscribe to my newsletter for more in-depth photography tips and tricks.

Happy shooting!