I’m sure that most people have seen artists where you can immediately pick out their work because there is something distinctive about it. Whether that be Vincent Van Gogh’s Impressionist style (as seen in Starry Night and Sunflowers), or Brandon Woelfel’s (@brandonwoelfel on Instagram) bokeh effects and distinctive editing style, they both have carved out a niche for how they want their art to look and it stands out among all the others. I don’t think my style is fully developed, but here are my thoughts on it so far.
During the fall 2018 semester, I had the chance to really explore architecture photography. I hadn’t explored it very much before, but once I visited the super-modern Getty Museum and photographed it, I found a new love. Some of my images from the Getty don’t look like photographs, they could be mistaken for vector illustrations. How can that be? I figured out that I really like flattening space in photographs because it blurs the line between real and not real. A great example of this is @tropicophoto on Instagram. I was drawn to their work because of the flattening of space and the fact that they don’t shy away from harsh shadows. Every photography class I’ve ever taken has told me to stay away from harsh light and shadows, but now I’m thinking that I like using harsh light and shadows as an artistic element. Here are some images I created with this in mind:
These next three photos came from an assignment that really jump started me thinking about my style. I presented these in a critique and the professor mentioned that all of them were very graphic. When I'm editing, I tend to make my darks very dark and this gave these images a graphic quality, making them look like paintings or illustrations. You can also see this style in the photography that was created during the Constructivist era of art, which came out of Soviet Russia in the 1920s. Constructivist photography often employs lots of lines, angles, light and contrast to create images that don't quite look real. The professor said to me, "These are photographs that a designer would take." and I love that because I am both, I do photography and design, so it was a description that made perfect sense. I also got a kick out of the fact that there were elements reminiscent of Russian art in my own work before I could even recognize it that way, because I am of Russian descent.
I can now identify elements in my work that I like, such as lines and contrast and flattening space. Going forward, I'm going to try applying these elements when I photograph different things and it will help me maintain "my style".
For any creative friends out there, do you have a style of your own? Or one that you really like? Let me know by dropping a comment!
Thanks for reading!
xx, Hannah