Seeking Inspiration?

Has success gone to my head? Having won the monthly Guardian competition, I thought why not enter a few more competitions?
Normally I only enter free comps as I feel the ones that charge are a little like playing the lottery, only instead of being "idiot tax" it's "vanity tax". But... it dawned on me that the comps that charge will only attract very serious photographers. In other words, pay an entry fee to play against the big boys. So, I found the Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition and decided to enter for £5. Looking at the past winners I was thinking "mmhmm, uhuh, yup, there's nothing there I coudn't do". Then... I spotted George Karbus's image - woah!!!! That's a cracker (the gannet underwater), but maybe a one off? Nope, clicking on his link (at the foot of this page, under "Inspiration"), he has many images that blow my socks off. What a photographer! His landscapes are fantastic but his in-the-water shots are breath taking! Go on, have a look.

Good aren't they? So did you just look at them or did you study them. The best way I have found to improve my photography is not to copy other photographers but to study their images and ask myself "why is that a great shot?", "what has the photographer done to make me go WOW!". With George it's the highly unusual subject matters, it's the popping colours, the dramatic angles, the clever techiques (slow exposures and great light for the landscapes, fast shutter speeds for the wildlife and water), it's the taking of images underwater which most of us just don't have the equipment for, it's getting eye contact from the animals he photographs and his ability to either show the creatures in their habitats or satisfy our curiousity by getting in close to animals we rarely see. And of course it's his amazing ability to compose a shot in a dynamic and constantly moving environment. All food for thought - now I just need to see how I can get those themes into my own photography!
Here are a few examples of when I have managed this to some degree - though usually not consciously! No where near as good as George's but they show you can adopt themes without necessarily changing your own style.

Ah...Sweet Success

I love winning competitions. Sometimes I win local competitions, sometimes online competitions with small entries. No matter how small the competition, I love the feeling that someone has looked at a collection of images and then decided "yes, that's the one I like".

Art is so subjective and when you create it in a vacuum, it gets very easy to start feeling that maybe your work is only appealing to yourself. I love that I can create an image that inspires other photographers or is simply enjoyed by someone other than myself, but unless I win competitions, I stop believing that my photography has value. Definitely a mental weakness on my part - lack of self esteem, a need for validation, lack of confidence or a background that valued academic achievement above artistic creativity? Pick any of them..., but that's how I feel.

Readers will remember (maybe) that last October I braved snow and gales and holidayed in Portknockie on the Banffshire coast, primarily to photograph the Bowfiddle Rock. One of the images I made then has turned out to be quite successful. This 'un in fact. It won a competition at my local camera club and was described by the judge as "how to take a landscape photograph". He was a professional and he couldn't fault it. That made me feel great as I LOVE landscapes. So, I thought, why not see if this does well in other competitions - I entered it in the Scotland From the Roadside Forum monthly competition (a tiny competition) and it won! It gave me more self belief. Last week I entered it into the Guardians travel compeition "Been There", just to see if there was achance it could get into the short list. guess what? That's right, it won!!!!! The prize is a £200 voucher for a high qulaity photoprint site (I sense a canvas coming my way) and it puts me in the a group of 12 that will be judged at the end of the year to choose a winner who will go on a photo safari in South Africa! Very, very exciting - wish me luck! But for me, actually the biggest prize of all was the fact that someone chose my image over all the rest - It makes the early mornings and late evenings worth it!

If you like it too, it's for sale as a limited edition at my sales site PhotoForMyWall.com.

I always like to finish these blog entries with a lesson learned. I guess this one is that you have to be in it to win it. And although I believe that art really is art so long as the creator of it feels it is, it also doesn't hurt to put it "out there" and get a virtual pat on the back.