At the risk of sounding like a hippy, be inspired by yourself.

The “trade show” post yielded a bunch of great comments, this one from Hannah Skye really stuck out:

I didn’t even bother to look at the trade show at the last couple of conventions I attended because they are all exactly the same, which is unfortunate because I love talking to the vendors and meeting new people. It’s scary, but I found myself slipping into the style of the masses the more I look at the work of other photographers, which is damn near unavoidable with FB, blogs, Pinterest, magazines, etc. I have always had kind of a weird, dramatic style to my work and I found myself trying to shoot in a way that just wasn’t comfortable for me because that’s what I thought clients wanted. How ridiculous. MY clients want ME and my self-proclaimed weird, dramatic style!! Needless to say, I feel liberated by my decision to stick to my true artistic leanings. I will be taking a much needed break from looking at the work of other portrait and wedding photographers…time to get inspired elsewhere. Thanks again for another honestly written blog post, TR!

Whenever I see someone talk about inspriation they invariably source it from outside.  Something they saw inspired them to do something else.  Now, as I’ve made an effort to establish time and again, I’m somewhat inclined to jerkiness and dicketry.  So it should come as no surprise that by and large I hate inspiration.  Because it always feels like inspiration is in some way about copying something else.  Sure, you might put a spin on it, you might file the numbers off, but it is still a reaction to something else.

Then again, no man is an island, and you can’t help but be influenced. But I wonder what would happen if “inspiration” came from inside of us instead of from someone else.  What do you want to say about what you photograph or design?  What needs to be communicated?  Forget about “style” – what is your voice?  What would happen if you went out not paying complete attention to what came before?  What if you started from a position of ignorance about what everyone else is doing?

I totally understand that what I’m suggesting is nearly impossible.  But I think it is worth going as far down this road as possible.  I do feel it is becoming more and more obvious that increased competition in the creative fields means that sameness is death.  We can’t just worry about presenting the same value argument as the next guy, we also have to be conscious that we’re not looking for our future inspirations from the same sources as everyone else.  

- trr

P.S. – as some of you know, I’ve reached out to Yan from the “Are you sick of it too” post and we’re set to record a podcast Monday night talking about our reactions, getting business, moving studios (and moving on) and generally fighting it out…if you’ve got any topics or questions you’d like us to talk about go ahead and let me know.

Tagged as: A Man to Fish, AMTF, branding for photographers, branding for photography, how to price photography, inspiration, photography business education, photography inspiration, sexy business workshop, where to find photography inspiration.