I am not trying to re-invent the wheel.
A LOT of people photograph. I know many truly amazing photographers from still life, food, documentary, journalistic, fine art, portraiture, and more. The best advice I can give is do not let the sheer number of “photographers” get you down. Keep going. Keep shooting. Many photographers get paid for their work, which is fantastic! Personally I feel uncomfortable putting a price on my work. Not sure why.
Share Rather than Profit
The way I see it is that I want to be able to share my work more than profit off it. I’d rather #inspire others to go someplace new. I have training in just about each genre of photography and the only genres that drew me in the most were landscape, travel, documentary, and Fine Art photography. From these genres, I feel I have more freedom to #create! To be brutally honest, I have zero interest in photographing a wedding because I do not want the bride or any wedding guest telling me how to do my job or what they think will make a good shot. My eyes would roll back so hard, so I choose not to be a wedding photographer.
First and foremost, I Create for Myself
Selfish I know, but think about it, If I did not create artwork for myself first, I would not have any interest in creating. I make photographs for me first and then for the greater population (or whomever decides to look at my work). When I frame a subject in my mind prior to shooting, I look for two people, myself and a person who has never been to that place. I have noticed that I tend to photograph in a way that does not include people, or at least minimally include them. I think that people will be more willing to visit a place if they see clear spaces for them to roam, rather than packed streets or buses. When I visited Sequoia National Park, I could have photographed the long line of people waiting to take the shuttle bus to Moro Rock; but, instead I photographed from Moro Rock to show the reason why people take those shuttles. Personally, I want to remember the beautiful and peaceful moments in nature.
Thinking Outside the Box
I really am trying not to re-invent the wheel (or photography in this case). I love hearing people say, “I wouldn’t have thought to photograph that”. It makes me proud when I know I thought out of the box. Some photographs are truly ubiquitous. So much so I can hardly tell one person’s sunset shot vs. another. The classics are classics for a reason like waterfalls, sunsets, sunrises, etc., and are all amazing subjects to photograph. I think photography as a constant documentation of the world is actually a good idea. You could go back ten years and see the change in your own photos. I recently visited McWay falls along the Big Sur Coast and took many photographs. A lot of what I took looked similar to those before me and inevitably those after me. However, if I did not take any of those shots, I would not have a beautiful photograph of McWay falls.
Bottom line: even though some shots are “common” or “overdone”, keep shooting! I know I will.
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