Getting Better Fast - Avoid Normal
When I was a young photojournalist, I religiously avoided shooting with the normal lens. In fact, I did not really own a normal lens. I had a 55mm micro but I never used it for my everyday assignments. I used my 24mm and my 180mm all the time. These were the most extreme lenses I had at that time.
Fast forward to the present day and I am still inclined to shoot with the extremes in my bag. However, it is not really avoiding the 50mm that I am talking about; although, I still have an allergic reaction to that lens. What I am really talking about is avoiding your normal. If you normally are a wide angle shooter, stretch yourself and shoot with long lenses every time you can. If you are normally a mid-range lens guy, then go to either extreme but get out of you middle ground. If you shoot mostly with the long glass, break out the wide angle and shoot as much as possible with it.
Breaking out of your normal routine literally forces you to see differently. It forces you to visualize photos that you were not even thinking about in your normal shooting mode. You have to think differently. You have to shoot differently. You have to leave your comfort zone and step outside of that proverbial box. This is good. Change is good. What will eventually happen to you is growth. You will grow as a shooter. You will get better. You can still get your money shots shooting the way you always have but after you have your safety shot, break your mold and go to an extreme.
Lighting is another area where you can fall into a routine, otherwise known as a rut. If you normally light everything, shoot a couple of projects documentary style and use no supplemental lighting. If you normally shoot everything available, jump the fence and do some stylized lighting on a few jobs. What you will find is that you will actually learn to see light better. You will learn to see natural light with new eyes. You will learn that lighting an assignment gives it an entirely new look.
Eventually you will learn to blend light in ways that are absolutely seamless. Mixing natural light and some form of supplemental light is a skill that is more valuable than just about any other you can acquire as a photographer. Unless you are a strict documentary journalist, just about every other form of photojournalism, and photography in general, require good lighting skills to advance your career.
When you break out of whatever your normal is, you will discover something has happened to you. You will have gotten better. You will have grown. You will look back at the way you used to shoot and wonder how you could have been stuck there. Your work will be full of a new energy. You will be reworking your portfolio or whatever material you use to promote yourself. Mostly you will just wonder how you had been stuck in normal mode and had not even realized it.
About the photo: For this photo of a brother/sister golf tandem, I broke several of my conventions. I used a wide lens which is not really my strength and I used a two light set up to augment the daylight. I also used an unexpected perspective on the photo. Essentially, I had a thirty minute drive to the assignment which was at the kids’ home. I used my imagination to come up with something out of my normal range and tried that first. It worked great but I also had a fall back photo just in case.
Photo copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
Insightful as always my friend. You, me and David Higginbotham are always in the clouds! Kudos for the ever-energetic topics for the blog. Hey all you guys out there…listen to this guy! He knows of which he speaks. Take it to heart and push yourself.