How to practice and get your style?

You certainly have read a lot of photobooks and magazines, I reckon. In terms of knowledge, you have more than the basics. Nevertheless, your development as a photographer is somehow stalled - your pictures seem not to get any better. And when taking photos, you have the feeling of doing the same again and again.

Ask yourself: What is your theme? What is your style? What do your pictures express?

I already wrote about it in this blogpost about photographic style.

The way to a photographic style and an expression can only slightly be helped by workshops or coaches - we have to find it on our own. We are our students and, at the same time, our teacher. Copying and imitating others can develop your style until you create something new, something of your own.

The path is individual and not the same for everyone. These following ideas attempt to show a way through the inner creative jungle we all have to cross. I intend to present a framework on how to tackle this jungle. Ask yourself, where do you want to go, what are your goals? Y

PHOTOGRAPHIC GOALS

What do you want to achieve with your photography? This part is like a wish list. Write down whatever you can think of. Dreaming is permitted. Formulate the goals you want to achieve. Circle the most important of these goals.

DEFINE THESE GOALS THAT YOU SEE AS PARTICULARLY CENTRAL TO YOUR PROGRESS

Look at your goals, pick one, and make a list of what steps to achieve it. Give yourself a date when you think you might accomplish this goal.

GIVE YOURSELF A MONTHLY TASK

At the beginning of each month, pick one goal, and try to better yourself. You should train regularly (and playfully). There are different phases you might experience, but they do not necessarily have to be in the same order for everyone. Nurture your ideas and let your creativity flow. The result of the tasks you fulfill ultimately depends heavily on how much you get in and make your own. A lot of things will be adapted to or inserted into projects you plan.

What am I supposed to do?" is quite a reasonable question and to be expected. The things that are foreign to us can bring new ideas to the surface. In this respect, experimentation makes you smart.

Our brain tends to suddenly generate ideas in entirely different fields whenever it is supposed to focus on only one particular thing. If this happens while working on the monthly tasks, take notes of them. These ideas do not have to, and should not be worked out immediately, but do not forget them. They may be advantageous for fulfilling other goals.

WEEKLY OVERVIEW

Plan your week. Make it your habit to think about what comes next. If you could do only one thing in the coming week - what would that be? Make it the focus of the week. These focuses form the framework for possible photographic activities in your free time. Therefore, be realistic in your plans. Make appointments with yourself when working on your monthly tasks. Take notes of inspiration apart from your immediate goal; this might inspire you to small side projects.

Establishing new habits is often not easy and requires patience, discipline, and perseverance. On the other side, new patterns can help to achieve a specific goal faster, so it is crucial to stick to them. Would you like to be more involved with photography? Then visit museums or start a photo project.

REFLEXION: MONTHLY BACK REVIEW

At the end of the month, make an effort and review the past weeks. Have you photographed, visited an exhibition, or read an important book? How did you feel about your monthly tasks? Go back to your planning - are there things you can already tick off? If so, don't forget to be happy and pat yourself.

My own latest goal and a side project were getting double exposure images with a Leica M6 film camera. There is no native possibility to do this right away. I took some exciting scenes and made pictures of the whole film. Spooling the film back, I inserted it again and took random street images on top of the first ones.

Inserting the film in the same manner as the first one is crucial to get the same frames. Otherwise, you'll have some overlap. I marginally knew what I had taken before and tried to compose the second image accordingly. Nevertheless, this is a try and error task. But I was happy with the overall outcome. The following are some of the results.