- Couple of months ago I was motorcycling across Nevada, and as I sometimes do when I'm riding in really remote places, I was listening to a podcast as I was riding. I was listening to an episode of NPR's Fresh Air, and Terry Gross was interviewing Jon Stewart. I think The Daily Show had just ended and she was playing back interviews that she'd done. He was telling the story of one of his earliest gigs in New York when he had a 2 AM time slot every single night at some comedy club. He was saying how, you know, of course, there's hardly any audience at 2 AM.
But that what that experience did for him, doing that time slot over and over, going there in the middle of the night and just doing his act, whether there was an audience there or not. Doing that over and over, what that did for him he said was he learned to stop impersonating a comedian and become a comedian. So I was listening to that as I was riding along. I was thinking, well that's very interesting, and then I listened to something else, and then it started raining or what not. Then a little bit later I was outside of, I think, Ely, Nevada.
A storm was coming and I was kind of racing the clock. I looked to my left and I saw a scene. I rode on past it as I do sometimes going ooh should I have shot that? Do I have time, there's rain coming, I don't know. I'm really gonna regret it later, okay I'll turn around. Then I went back and I took the picture and it was this. Then I edited it into this. The original obviously needed some brightening. I didn't do that by the side of the road. Obviously, I did the editing later. So I took the picture and then I drove on.
I had an errand to do in town and then I kept riding. But I just felt weird. I kept thinking about this picture. I was trying to figure out what felt weird about it. I realized after a bit that when I saw it, and the light was actually different when I first saw it. So there's these campers in front of the trees, the trees were more backlit, there was a little more light in the sky. For some reason when I saw it, I thought I did not look at this scene and see it through my own eyes, I recognized it as a photo. I'm not sure if those are the right words for what I'm trying to describe.
But I don't feel, the reason I was feeling weird is I don't think I was actually seeing that for myself. I saw that and thought, oh I know that kind of picture. That's the kind of picture that's a picture of a certain type of Americana, the campers and RVs in a campsite outside of a small town. Oh I can imagine that accompanied by a such and such kind of story in a such and such kind of magazine. Oh I'll go take that picture. At that point I was not shooting an image that I was actually seeing. I was shooting an image that I recognized as a particular thing. I was mimicking.
I was not being a photographer, I was impersonating a photographer. There's a lot of merit to doing that. It's a great way to learn. It's actually not a bad idea to pick out a photographer and go try and shoot like them. Because when you do that, you start to understand the problems that they were facing, and by puzzling them out yourself, you get a better idea of what they figured out, and therefore, you've learned something that they know. But that's still not you shooting your vision or your eye, and maybe you don't have a vision yet. Maybe you don't have an eye yet.
Maybe you don't yet have a style that is your own. Style is a weird thing. It's an ephemeral thing, it's hard to define. I don't know if I have one. I don't because I see the world that I, the way that I see the world. I assume that everyone else sees the world that way. It can take a long time, it can take a lot of mimicry. It can take a lot of absorbing other people's things and playing with them and mixing and matching until you come up with your own. It's important to be aware though of when you are seeing something for yourself and when you're seeing something that you recognize as something.
Those are two very different ways of shooting. Again, they both have merit. If you find that you are constantly mimicking someone else, that's fine, just keep going, keep doing that. You may do that for years and then eventually one day something happens, and you're seeing something the way that you see it. But that's built on top of technical and aesthetic skills that you've learned from other people. This is how we progress in this discipline. It's how we progress as a society by building on what came before. So I don't know really know what else I have to say besides that. It's just something I noticed as a I driving around in the middle of nowhere in Nevada.
Author
Updated
12/23/2020Released
5/19/2013Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Q: Why can't I earn a Certificate of Completion for this course?
A: We publish a new tutorial or tutorials for this course on a regular basis. We are unable to offer a Certificate of Completion because it is an ever-evolving course that is not designed to be completed. Check back often for new movies.
Related Courses
-
Photography Foundations: Composition
with Ben Long5h 29m Intermediate -
The DIY Photographer
with Joseph "PhotoJoseph" Linaschke2h 39m Intermediate -
Photo Tools Weekly
with Chris Orwig26h 18m Intermediate
-
The Practicing Photographer - New This Week
-
16-bit in Photoshop6m 23s
-
-
Introduction
-
Previous Episodes
-
Choosing a camera5m 27s
-
Let your lens reshape you7m 26s
-
Working with reflections1m 26s
-
Exploring mirrorless cameras7m 25s
-
Using a tripod3m 33s
-
Wildlife and staying present5m 58s
-
Why Shoot Polaroid11m 12s
-
Seizing an opportunity4m 4s
-
Shooting wildlife7m 24s
-
Using a lens hood4m 48s
-
Working with themes2m 48s
-
Setting up an HDR time lapse7m 55s
-
Processing an HDR time lapse7m 55s
-
Scanning Photos5m 37s
-
Jpeg iPad import process3m 17s
-
Warming up3m 26s
-
Taking a panning action shot10m 17s
-
Shooting a silhouette3m 9s
-
Using Lightroom on the road6m 28s
-
Shooting level2m 42s
-
Photoshop and Automator8m 54s
-
Softboxes vs. umbrellas2m 55s
-
Working with hair in post3m 28s
-
Exploring how to use Bokeh5m 38s
-
Shooting stills from a drone6m 57s
-
Working with models2m 40s
-
Tips for shooting panoramas7m 16s
-
Dry sensor cleaning6m 23s
-
Composing in the center2m 48s
-
Vignetting9m 56s
-
Inspire3m 29s
-
Minimizing camera baggage4m 24s
-
Working without a tripod4m 11s
-
Printer options6m 51s
-
Exploring lo-fi printing options11m 58s
-
IOS macro photography gear12m 25s
-
IR Conversion Part 27m 27s
-
Raw editing in Lightroom mobile10m 35s
-
Shooting a macro insect shot13m 5s
-
A brief history of photography12m 19s
-
Shooting with a Petzval lens9m 49s
-
What is a low-pass filter?4m 35s
-
Teleconverters and lenses5m 12s
-
Media card care7m 19s
-
Dual slot4m 2s
-
Exploring smart previews9m 12s
-
Flying and photo batteries5m 41s
-
Partial vignettes on photos8m 38s
-
360 image editing plugins6m 59s
-
Using a gimbal with an SLR8m 13s
-
Choosing a lens6m 27s
-
Switching camera systems7m 42s
-
Using 360 drones5m 41s
-
VR gimbals4m 16s
-
Working with a photo subject14m 26s
-
Posing a photo subject12m 53s
-
Framing and safety7m 7s
-
RAW converter options3m 59s
-
Drone flight7m 19s
-
Basic abstract photography8m 51s
-
Aspect ratio3m 40s
-
Focus lock on your camera2m 11s
-
Using the Astropad app6m 33s
-
Working with dim sunlight6m 33s
-
Configuring dual cards2m 52s
-
Long lens options4m 45s
-
Moving images from catalogs7m 47s
-
Photography education11m 7s
-
In-camera focus stacking9m 52s
-
Exposure isn't everything4m 17s
-
Why shoot film?8m 55s
-
Culling4m
-
Choosing a film camera8m 38s
-
Analog workflow9m 9s
-
Easily produce giant prints10m 15s
-
Luna Display4m 19s
-
Choosing film7m 50s
-
Photo fads4m 46s
-
Portrait lighting techniques8m 32s
-
Diopter control2m 56s
-
Loupedeck for Lightroom6m 48s
-
Printing small3m 37s
-
Lens flare removal6m 28s
-
Paper choice for prints7m 39s
-
Aspect ratio for portraits2m 33s
-
When in doubt2m 24s
-
Looking vs. seeing2m 44s
-
Do you need a carnet?5m 23s
-
Scan large items6m 17s
-
Create an honest portrait5m 34s
-
A portrait assignment3m 23s
-
Am I good?5m 59s
-
Boredom4m 13s
-
Clichés4m 29s
-
Finding inspiration5m 42s
-
An everyday project5m 47s
-
Learning from students4m 56s
-
Life as a project5m 27s
-
Why take a workshop?4m 33s
-
Photographic honesty2m 52s
-
Up to interpretation3m 27s
-
Photographic style3m 40s
-
Photography drills6m 31s
-
Digital chores4m 23s
-
Photos and words4m 11s
-
Stay-at-home exercises3m 45s
-
Understanding your medium2m 28s
-
Darkroom for iOS5m 15s
-
iOS image editing extensions2m 58s
-
On set: Simplicity4m 5s
-
On set: Corners2m 19s
-
On set: The build4m 30s
-
On set: Same pieces, new set3m 18s
-
Choose a price first3m 20s
-
Rewind: Choosing a camera5m 41s
-
On time and in tune3m 3s
-
Avalanche for aperture4m 8s
-
Evaluating a wide-angle lens6m 14s
-
Auction catalogs4m 56s
-
Get out and shoot (safely)3m 45s
-
Do ruts exist?2m 24s
-
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: Developing a photographic style