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1. Selective Color! While this is generally frowned upon by the industry we’ve all been there and done it! Perhaps I’ll share a personal post later this week with some photos from when I first started my business all the way to my current work. I had a big selective color phase and it took awhile for me to learn that it created an unnecessary focus on one part of the image that sometimes didn’t make sense. I began to see it as more distracting than helpful in expressing the emotions and moments I was capturing and for my photography style.
2. Actions! Can we gush? When I first discovered actions I bought them all and now I’m more and more picky. My first few actions sets I had a hard time picking favorites and many of my photography sessions had no consistency with the overall look because each photo had a different action done to it. I quickly learned this may not have been the most professional route, but I was in a phase where I was exploring what my style was and what worked for me.
3. Props! I’ve seen props go in and out of ‘style.’ Props are wonderful and amazing. I’ve had phases where I went overboard on the props and took a step back and figured out what images I truly liked with them and what images and props I might have been creating and using because I saw it was popular and my client asked. Some props will be for you and some won’t. Some will fade in and out of style. For me it’s vintage suitcases. Don’t ask me why – it’s just something I love!
4. Vintage! Vintage was a phase I went through and left, some people never leave and man am I jealous of all the photographers out there who can capture that vintage look and make it work for them. Sometimes I do a vintage edit in Photoshop and I start over because it just doesn’t feel right. I guess it’s not my style.
It takes awhile for each photographer to develop their style. Some people can make these things work, these were not things that worked for me. It’s important that you do go through these phases, learn from them and make them your own! Actions are great, props are awesome and vintage is amazing! It’s okay to go through those stages as you learn more about photography, your camera, and your editing software and refine and really hone in on what your style is. It’s not always easy to pinpoint your style until you’re already there! Don’t worry if you’re in these phases, many photographers experience them, feel free to ask questions and explore! You’ll be a better business because of it!
Just keep your chin up. Remember nothing you are doing is wrong. You are learning and exploring – we’ve all been there and you have to figure out what style works for you.
Have you checked out our >31 Days to a Better Photography Business Online Workshop?< It’s awesome!
Todd Thompson - I’ve never been a fan of the vintage look. I don’t know why. Some people just gush over that treatment and I always think it looks horrible. I guess I’m just strange.
Carrie - Todd – totally with you. I just can’t get it to work for me.
Hope Farnow - Had to laugh when I saw this! I am in 2 of these phases at the moment. Glad to know this is normal and will pass!
Amy Greene - I have gon eover and over in the last 2 years what works for me. I’m getting back to the basics of why I fell in love with the simple look. There are looks out there I cant lie dont turn me on but the strait forward look with a little bit of color pop is so far my fav. THanks for sharing this.
Amanda - I am in both the actions and the vintage stage right now–though I do believe that vintage *is* my style. I don’t over-do my actions, though. I basically just use them as a time saver.