What Type of Photographer are You?
Category: Photography
Canon recently kicked off a new photo competition called, The Assignment and the way they have structured the contest is making me wonder, “What type of photographer am I?”
Canon has asked that you submit 1 photo and place it into 1 of the following categories:
Are you able to capture pure emotion in a single shot? Can you portray a person’s life-story with one photograph?
Are you talented at seizing that instant when the game turns? Have you caught the moment of absolute glory on record?
Are people mesmerized by your images of imposing mountains? Do your city shots positively buzz with life?
Does your photography reveal hidden details of everyday objects? Can you unveil secrets through close-ups?
First off, the way they’ve structured this contest is a bit limiting. Shame you can only submit 1 photo and I don’t think all photos fit neatly into one of the above categories.
But, saying that, trying to narrow down what type of photography I enjoy is something that’s been on my mind.
As a beginner, think it’s important to just go out and start taking as many photos as possible. You never know what type of photos you’ll enjoy until you’ve tried them all! But after that initial learning phase, it’s maybe time to focus on your best work.
My tips:
1) Organise your photos and make a special category for your “Favourites”. Be very critical and only add your best work. After awhile, you’ll probably start to see trends. For example, turns out a good portion of my favourites shots are Macro, which was a total surprise.
2) Look at other people’s photos. And then look some more. Flickr is a great way to view photos by subject, type, camera, lens…and anything else you can think of. Get on there and just start searching. A cool place to start is their “Interestingness” category.
Like you say, as a beginner you should be going out and taking loads of photos and not worrying about what category they go into.
You take photos of what looks good, not so you can put them in a category, so take the photos that appeal to you at the time and put them in a category after you take them, not before you take them.
I think this goes for all photos you take, not just competition ones.
Totally agree Cas. These photo competitions can be fun - but best not to get too hung up on the “category” bits.
Especially for an obsessive compulsive like myself : )
True.
But: I find that it also helps to limit yourself sometimes: e.g. go into town and just take pictures of building details. Forget about all the other interesting things that are out there and just focus on one theme.
Good point Pascal.
There was a day on my recent holiday where I just focused on taking photos of the architecture.
Helped me to focus on one type of photo and by the end of that afternoon, I had found the best settings for the lighting, etc.
Yeah me too… sometimes it took all day just to get the best view. But i used to do something on the spot while waiting. I guess that the essence of photography.