Follow Someone

Think back to kindergarten when your teacher asked you that fateful question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  I don’t want you dwell on what you did or did not achieve, but I do want you to think about what you wanted to be.  Was it a fireman, policeman, cowboy, doctor, nurse or even a scientist?  Why did you want to be like them?  With photography you need to do the same; you need to follow someone.  I don’t mean follow their blog, but follow their work.  Look at the photos they create and intently study what they did to create those images.  It doesn’t have to be a well know photographer or even one that has a blog.  It could be someone with Flickr account or a photographer that contributes regularly to a stock photography outlet.  I have several photographers I follow and here are the reasons I follow them:

1. I use them for ideas of ways to pose and shoot portraits.
2. I try to figure out how they light a scene to get the look that they do, especially the ones I know that don’t post process their images.
3. I try to emulate some of their looks, not that they are my style, but if I can emulate a look I can better serve my clients.

These are the main reasons but I do have another, I want to know what they say about their work and how they relate to their network of followers.  Because photography is more than just the image, it’s the way you make the viewer feel.  In some cases I don’t like what they do or say, but it’s all a learning experience for me and helps me think about and hone my photography both as an art and a craft.