Creativity and the Art of being Different! page 2

So perhaps, ‘Relax and remember the moment he proposed to you’ would be a better suggestion. After all, you would think that that thought would have pleasant memories, and that would show on their faces. This, after all, is what ‘expression’ is all about. People are expressing their emotional response to whatever they are thinking about. This is also the secret of body language and, when applied at the interview stage, allows you to understand better what it is that the clients are looking forward to on their wedding day and what excites them. As they look at your images and discuss their wishes for the day, it shows on their faces!

The quality of our interaction with our clients on the wedding day does show up in our pictures of the day.

A word of caution … there is a danger when pursuing ‘different’ that we may miss the core elements of the wedding. For the majority of clients we need to stay mindful of the need to ‘cover the basics’. In the pursuit of the next greatest wedding photograph, we may fail our clients if we don’t capture the important family members and those parts of the day considered key to the wedding.

For many of us as photographers, the desire to be ‘different’ is purely for personal reasons. Sure, we have a job to do and clients to satisfy but, hey, I want to have fun and be challenged as well! I want some satisfaction that I am growing and evolving in my craft, and producing something ‘new’ on a regular basis.

The more weddings we shoot, the more experience we have, and it might be reasonable to assume that this will go on meaning that we can come up with something ‘different’ but this is not always the case.

So, how can you be creative and where do new ideas come from?

To be truly creative we need to step outside our comfort zones. The dictionary suggests that true creativity is to bring into being something that previously didn’t exist. To do this, we need to follow new paths. Try something as simple as looking in a ‘different’ direction, use a lens you have never tried before, or even do what ‘doesn’t work’. Mix it up with what you know, cover the key images and maybe for a few frames, give yourself permission to use your skills in a totally new way. Being creative often means you are not sure what you will end up with the first time you try something new … and that’s OK!

Creativity really is in the way we allow ourselves to think and the photographic rules we choose to work by. Being creative is to be ‘adventurous’. I have watched my daughter ‘working’ on some images she had taken in Photoshop, a program I had only shown her very recently and to a very basic level. I was at first humoured by the ‘mistakes’ she was making and felt tempted to step in and correct those mistakes but, as I watched, I allowed myself to suspend my expectations around what was a good photograph. There was something really inspiring about the way she interpreted her images. Some of them are genuinely amazing and I was reminded that often our limitations in the area of creativity are created by ourselves and our desire to stick to the rules and, while rules are important, they can and, in my opinion, should be challenged.

Work out what should be done and do something ‘different’. Act as if you didn’t know the rules and you will add to your library of knowledge. If you only do what you already know works, your library of knowledge will not be extended.

It is a question I carry with me at every shoot. If time permits and I have covered what is required, then it is time to get curious. Every time you ‘find’ a new idea that works, a new image that you or your clients like, you add to your toolbox of ‘creative’ tricks. While they may become ‘normal’ for you, they will be ‘different’ for everyone else. Like a dancer or a sportsperson who forever adds to their repertoire of ‘moves’, you will continue to expand your shot options. Stay in tune with your instincts and be prepared to stretch yourself.

Finally, you are ‘different’ – there is no one else quite like you and nobody sees the way you see. Embrace that uniqueness and combine it with the uniqueness of each and every couple.

All creativity starts with an idea – a single thought. Any idea, when continually focused on, grows.

Be curious and breathe life into an idea by:
Focusing on it
Talking about it
Dreaming about it
This is the stuff of passion!

All great works of art, all great songs, architectural wonders, etc started with a thought, a thought that was pursued, often purely on instinct, whether it made sense to or not.

So it is with photographs!

Tony Hewitt is one of Australia’s leading People Photographers & Photographic Illustrators. He has received a 'Triple Master of Photography,' from the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, a Fellowship from the New Zealand Institute, and has twice been awarded the AIPP WA Professional Photographer of the Year, along with many other national and international awards. Tony is consistently sought after as a professional speaker in both the photographic and corporate arenas. Presenting on subjects as diverse as Vision and Creativity, Life Skills, Marketing, Communication & Rapport, he has been invited to present throughout Australia and in the USA, Asia, and the UK. A rare mix of talents, he combines his twin passions for People and the Art of Photography while offering a unique perspective on Life, Business, and the Challenges they hold. He is the keynote speaker at the DWF Convention in Tampa Bay, Jan 4-7 2008

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Photo Quote: More varied than any landscape was the landscape in the sky, with islands of gold and silver, peninsulas of apricot and rose against a background of many shades of turquoise and azure. - Cecil Beaton