Wanting to take more photos and a distinctive style.

Jordon Brooker

Jordon Brooker

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Jordon
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I'm really looking to expand my portfolio but am really struggling to find willing participants.

Any ideas of how I can get some more willing participants?

Slightly unrelated...

Do all my photos look like they are taken by the same person? Or do they look like they have been taken by a string a different photographers and processed differently.
 
models - if you are starting out pay them , if you are accomplished either pay them or do a TFP deal (time for pics) - as to where to find them modelmayhem, purestorm etc, or look in the back pages of a photography magazine. (the only proviso being if this is a proffesional portfloio don't try and pass model shots off as client shots because thats just dishonest)

in terms of style for us to answer that you'll need to post some pics
 
theres no particular unifying style between those three - they are just pictures (and without wanting to be harsh the third one is just a family snapshot)
 
Jordon Brooker said:
How can I start trying to create a style with my work?
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first take a step back and think about why you want to

that apart creating a style in a proffesional or reputational sense is about finding a technique/type of shot that you like and making that the unifying strand through your work - i'd suggest looking at the portfolios of great photographers you admire and thinking about what it is that makes their style.

I had a really good book for this called 100 portrait photographers - which basically showed the work of 100 top togs on each to a double page - I'd have been happy to lend it to you, but unfortunately the last person i lent it too never returned it ... but i'm sure you could find it on amazon - also look at portfolios on the web, go to exhibitions etc... even on here for that matter.
 
Jordon Brooker said:
How can I start trying to create a style with my work?
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Seems to me that when you HAVE developed your own style (if you ever do, as I don't think it is a given that anybody will necessarily develop ONE style that they do for ever more), you will know and you won't need to ask anybody else. And more to the point you won't care what anyone else says as you will believe/know that it is 'right' for you, at that point in time.

As regards finding a 'style', my line is that you need to try as many different types of photography as possible - eg land
scape/portrait/high tones/low tones/different processing methods/B&W/close-ups/street photography/still life and see what you end up wanting to do more and more of.

That could/would be your style.

And then after a while you may get fed up with that and then want to do something else and that will be your (new) style.

So just keep plugging away and see where you get.

(And I'm still waiting for mine to turn up, but having a lot of pleasure/learning lots of stuff (+ some frustration learning that new stuff) while I get there :))
 
Jordon Brooker said:
How can I start trying to create a style with my work?
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Rule 1: A style will NOT come from processing or a computer. Just remember that. A processing style might, but a photographic style will NOT.

You develop a style when you experiment with your work. You will never find a style by rigidly following the usual rules. Rule of thirds, rules on posing models etc. If you follow rules, your images will look the same as all the other people's who are following the same rules.

Look at other people's work. I don't mean stuff on Flickr etc. While there's good stuff on there, it's not all that common, and usually, you'll be looking at stuff from others that are also following the same rules.

Look at past masters, get to know their stuff. Start appropriating styles you see in your own work. I don't mean copy, I mean use it creatively. Experiment. "What if I use Ansel Adams as influence for a portrait?" Sounds crazy, but try it. "What if I use David LaChapell as influence for a landscape?" Some stuff will work, some won't, but what does work will probably be quite different. If you like it, develop it further, and eventually your stuff takes on a look of it's own as you continue to develop.

Once you have developed a style... which you will if you appropriate and synthesise enough, then you also want to keep it evolving and changing. Don't become a one trick pony.

Those who have/did developed unique styles... Nadav Kander, David Bailey, Horst P Horst, Edward Weston.. the list is almost endless... also understood that photography is so much more than a technical subject - it's a communication medium.
 
Jordon Brooker said:
I'm really looking to expand my portfolio but am really struggling to find willing participants.

Any ideas of how I can get some more willing participants?

Slightly unrelated...

Do all my photos look like they are taken by the same person? Or do they look like they have been taken by a string a different photographers and processed differently.
Click to expand...

I started with doing a couple of group shoots at local studios. Not very expensive and taught me some basic stuff. Then I set up profiles on the modelling websites (purpleport, modelmayhem, purestorm).


My feeling is that photography is like any art. You need to master the craft, techniques and medium. Then you need to study and understand light and what the great masters in photography, drawing, painting have done. Then your own personal style will come. At the moment your portraits are quite good but lacking in some of the basics.

Looking at your flickr, your street/candid stuff has a lot more verve than the portraits you've posted in this thread.
 
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I don't think you can just decide on what your 'style' is... I think it finds you... by trying all sorts and experimenting, you'll find yourself eventually going back to the same types of shots, methods etc... and before you know it, you'll realize you've got something that you can call your own. It's taken me about 3 years to work it out...now I'm just trying to work out the kinks. :)

But that's just my take on it...
 
PatrickO said:
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Just to let you know, anyone using the "night" theme on here... which is many (dark grey is best for viewing images) can not read your post easily, as it's black on very dark grey. Select "none" for text colour and it will auto select the best colour for the theme.


sunnyside_up said:
I don't think you can just decide on what your 'style' is... I think it finds you...
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I have to disagree there. I think that's a common misconception because those that develop a style more organically do so without realising how it happened. We're all influenced by what we see, and ultimately our "style" is a result of competing and mixed inspirations becoming influences.

sunnyside_up said:
by trying all sorts and experimenting,
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Exactly... it just feels like it finds you, but by experimenting and appropriating what you see when looking at imagery, things coalesce into something that works for you. However, because you were experimenting... you found it, not the other way around :)

We're saying the same thing, but it's a result of work.. whereas "it finds you" kind of makes it sound like you don't have to do anything.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Just to let you know, anyone using the "night" theme on here... which is many (dark grey is best for viewing images) can not read your post easily, as it's black on very dark grey. Select "none" for text colour and it will auto select the best colour for the theme.




I have to disagree there. I think that's a common misconception because those that develop a style more organically do so without realising how it happened. We're all influenced by what we see, and ultimately our "style" is a result of competing and mixed inspirations becoming influences.




Exactly... it just feels like it finds you, but by experimenting and appropriating what you see when looking at imagery, things coalesce into something that works for you. However, because you were experimenting... you found it, not the other way around :)

We're saying the same thing, but it's a result of work.. whereas "it finds you" kind of makes it sound like you don't have to do anything.
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Yup, ok, I hear ya... I suppose I'm relating it to myself as a few people have recently commented on my photos saying 'your distinctive style'... and I don't ever remember deciding on THAT being my style... I just fell into it. I suppose it feels like it found me... I didn't one day wake up and say 'Ok Beth, THIS is how you're going to do it from now on'. :)
 
Jordon Brooker said:
IMG_3400 by Jordon "ForceGhost" Brooker, on Flickr

IMG_5209 by Jordon "ForceGhost" Brooker, on Flickr

IMG_4693 by Jordon "ForceGhost" Brooker, on Flickr

IMG_2450 by Jordon "ForceGhost" Brooker, on Flickr
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As David eluded to in an earlier post, when it comes to style, you really do need to try and think beyond the immediate aesthetic of how you process your shots. If you are going to have a style that defines YOU as a photographer, your pictures need to be able to withstand the inevitable changes in tastes and fashions. This is where you will need a photographic style that doesnt rely on fads.
 
Some good advice above, but I feel obliged to point out that #4 is what is known in the trade as a WTF picture. As in "Wtf is with the brown sleeve without a hand and why is it there?" :)
 
Whilst developing your own style never forget that engagement with the model/client is the most important thing. Use every single shoot as an opportunity to work on your people skills because the best portrait photographers are almost magicians when it comes to getting what they want from the sitter.
 
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