I’ve just bought (or rather, pre-ordered) a book from Amazon, consisting of a collection of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s portraits. This is a slightly unusual book; if you are aware of his work, which you almost certainly are, you will know that he is known as being a, if not the, pioneer and high practitioner of street photography. As such, a book of his portraits is an unusual collection to put together, and, indeed, own, especially as I don’t have any other collections of his work.
The point here is that Cartier Bresson has a body of work for which he is well known and justly praised. Any photographer that you admire is likely to have the same quality. I’m certain that Ansel Adams took some portraits, but you’d have no interest in them, as I’m sure no-one cares about a (fictional) retrospective of Bailey’s landscapes. What I, and I suspect a large number of photographers, struggle with, is the concept of developing a body of work – finding a common thread.
When I first started as a photographer, I was interested in architecture, namely good, clean lines and angles, making the most of the symmetry and order of modern building. I tired of this after a while, and consequently have dipped into all sorts, including music photography, portraiture, street photography, and so on. None of it has really stuck, however, and it tends to leave me at a bit of a loss, because I suspect one cannot really excel without at least some kind of specialism.
As a result of this, I find it hard to distinguish for myself a style, a signature way of looking at the world whereby an independent observer could say, “that’s a Prestney.” Now, it appears that I’m advocating a distinction based on subject matter; I’m not. It’s just that if one finds a sense of purpose in ones vision, one is more likely to settle on a subject (it’s a symptom not a cause.).
So a question, really. Do you have a purpose in your photography? Something other than “make an attractive/stunning image”? I hope the answer is yes, because that means you’re well ahead of me. And if the answer is “No,” it just might be worth thinking about.
One Comment
Reminds me of a tagline I saw written on a mechanics van recently. “We specialise in all makes of vehicle”. Doesn’t that actually mean that they don’t specialise on any?
Interesting thought about being unable to excel without specialising. I have Flickr contacts who dabble in a few different areas, and I would say that I can spot their work before seeing their name. A rare breed though, and infuriatingly effortless for them. Or at least that’s how it appears.