{"id":29441,"date":"2016-07-06T09:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=29441"},"modified":"2016-07-05T17:29:48","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T00:29:48","slug":"photograph-anything-you-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/06\/photograph-anything-you-want\/","title":{"rendered":"Photograph Anything You Want"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"LA,
LA, 2016 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

I wanted to write you this letter on how to liberate yourself in photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201d by photographing what interests you<\/em> rather than what you think other people will be interested. It means to make your photography more personal, and to make your photos a reflection of who you are as an individual. Remember; photos are always self-portraits of yourself, not of your subjects.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Often time, a lot of photographers ask me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Eric\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any ideas for photo projects\u00e2\u20ac\u201d how do I come up with good ideas?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I also get asked by photographers regarding advice for finding your own style in photography.<\/p>\n

However at the end of the day, the simplest advice I would give is: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Photograph anything you want.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Don’t fear criticism<\/h2>\n

There is always a fear that our work won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be appreciated by others. As human beings, we fear criticism more than we value praise. Personally I know that for every 99 comments I get that are positive, 1 negative comment can put me into a sad mood.<\/p>\n

I used to spend a lot of time asking other photographers what they thought about my work. I would also ask other photographers their feedback on some of my project ideas (whether they were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153interesting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or not).<\/p>\n

However the problem was that I would abdicate my own personal vision in the hands of others.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but a phrase I have picked up is, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all advice is autobiographical.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Therefore the advice you get from any other photographer is based on the life history of the other person\u00e2\u20ac\u201d not of yourself.<\/p>\n

Only you have the answers; nobody else.<\/p>\n

Follow your heart<\/h2>\n

Never take photos of what you think others would find \u00e2\u20ac\u0153interesting.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Only take photos of what you<\/em> find interesting.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you might really be into taking photos of fire hydrants, buildings, or street signs. This might not be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153interesting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to anybody else; but who cares? Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the point of your photography to bring you<\/em> personal satisfaction and happiness?<\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s do an opposite thought experiment: imagine if you made a photo project or image that everyone else thought was incredible (but you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t). Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say you ended up winning tons of awards, got tons of money, and fame\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but would you really be proud of your own photography?<\/p>\n

Take risks<\/h2>\n

To be original in your work is to take risks. And if you truly want to be original in your work; you cannot ask other people for their opinion.<\/p>\n

Why? If your idea is truly original\u00e2\u20ac\u201d nobody will think your idea is good. When the founders of AirBnb first pitched their ideas to investors (rent your bedroom to complete strangers) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the founders were seen as crazy. A few years later, and boom\u00e2\u20ac\u201d AirBnb is a multi-billion dollar company. The same goes with ride-sharing apps (could you imagine stepping into a stranger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s car 10 years ago and asking them to take you somewhere\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwithout being worried of being kidnapped or killed?)<\/p>\n

In the history of photography; the truly great photographers are the ones who followed their own personal vision and only photographed what they were personally interested in.<\/p>\n

Josef Koudelka is famous for never taking on commercial assignments, and only photographing what interested him. Bruce Davidson admitted that once he started to take on commercial work \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he started to lose his passion and enthusiasm for photography (because he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t making photos that were true to himself).<\/p>\n

There is a quote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All progress belongs to the unreasonable man.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Therefore know that in trying to push your own artistic vision forward; you need to be a bit unreasonable.<\/p>\n

In my personal opinion, I think it is better for you to craft your own lifestyle, live life to your own standards, and let the world conform to you (rather than trying to conform to the world).<\/p>\n

The world is full of generic people, with generic lifestyles, generic jobs, and make generic photos. You are unique as an individual\u00e2\u20ac\u201d why stick to the safe path, and create generic work which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t personally fulfilling to you? I know it might be scary; but assert your own individuality and creativity. Do what feels right to you<\/em> (regardless of what others may say).<\/p>\n

The only person to listen to<\/h2>\n

So going back to the beginning of this letter\u00e2\u20ac\u201d how do you take photos that only interests you?<\/p>\n

My suggestion: listen to your heart<\/strong>. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel \u00e2\u20ac\u0153forced\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to take photos you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to. Only take photos when your heart feels compelled.<\/p>\n

I used to believe that you had to take photos every single day\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but that opinion of mine has changed. I feel it just depends on who you are as a person (some people thrive when they practice everyday; others thrive when they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t practice something everyday).<\/p>\n

I feel that the point of life, photography, and anything creative is to figure out who you<\/em> are as an individual. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Know thyself\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the best advice I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten (that has lasted thousands of years). Nobody has the answers for you; but we do have a few guides (philosophers, master photographers, mentors) who can help point out a certain path to discover the truth for ourselves.<\/p>\n

Be happy<\/h2>\n

If you love to photograph flowers? Go ahead and photograph them and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry if your photos are going to be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153boring\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cliche.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d If you love to shoot street portraits (and other street photographers tell you that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201d just take the photos anyways). Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put labels on your photography, and you will be truly free to do whatever you want.<\/p>\n

What I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also found is that by uploading fewer photos to social media\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I feel more freedom. It helps me focus on making photos that bring me<\/em> personal satisfaction \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and not worrying too much about what brings others satisfaction.<\/p>\n

And what I have also discovered is that the happier you make yourself with your own photos, the more original, idiosyncratic, and personally-meaningful your work will be. And the more you please yourself in your own photos, then the more you will please your audience.<\/p>\n

So go forth, and photograph anything you want\u00e2\u20ac\u201d and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let anybody hold you back (not even yourself).<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

July 5, 2016 @ 4:26pm \u00e2\u20ac\u201d LAX Airport<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friend, I wanted to write you this letter on how to liberate yourself in photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201d by photographing what interests you rather than what you think other people will be interested. It means to make your photography more personal, and to make your photos a reflection of who you are as an individual. Remember; photos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}