Judy Garland once said,  “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”  It’s a hard mantra to maintain but we should strive every day for this in photography. I’m not writing this from the viewpoint of someone who is already there, but as a shared goal. Just like you, I’m always trying to be myself in a world which offers us much of the same. I believe the best work you can produce is when it comes from what you feel in your heart, not just what you see.

“Rid yourself of these five emotional cancers: criticizing, complaining, comparing, competing and contending”   S Covey

I read this recent quote somewhere on twitter, (let’s face it, I spend alot of time on twitter, it’s not all worthless). The truth struck home though. Comparing and competing drains you of your creativity and your love of self. That time would be much better spent out on walks with your camera, taking pictures of things that move your own soul, whether it be in the towns or the country. Everyone out there wants to know more about YOUR world and your personal experiences. Be confident that your view of life is one worth sharing. And keep practicing and practicing. All my life my father has said, “Know who you are”. This statement used to go over my head alot, (maybe because he might have had a few drinks at the time), but after 37 years, I think it’s starting to sink in. There is alot of fear out there. It’s starts from the playground in primary school. And being Northern Irish. We want to be accepted and agreeable in a society born of contention. We want to take the road that has been taken before because we know it’s safe, and we’ll have friends to keep us company. I do this too. I’m doing it now but I want to be brave and take a different road. Because there is no challenge really in going down the same path that has been taken many times before.

In Art college the work was so diverse. We didn’t have the internet (and yes, I know this means I’m ancient). I honestly didn’t see the work of others until presentation day. And then it was an exciting and beautiful thing. Everyone was so completely different. We were given a topic and we went away and produced work based on our own experiences and influences. It was alot tougher then but we had no choice. You had to do the work on the ground. No sources, names or words that you could ‘google’. You had to pull things from within yourself. But the results were always unique. Now there is too much replication. I am so very tired of seeing replication on facebook. I’m not happy with with even visiting facebook lately and all that its showing me. In fact, it makes me very sad, whereas before I was excited about possibilities.

No one starts with a blank page. Even the great masters of art had influences.  And I’m not saying here we should start with a blank page. We just  need to look a little further for inspiration and not always in the same places. For the Winter Wedding Journal shoot, I felt pretty challenged to say the least. The girls in the editorial office wanted 70′s/80′s/high power/glamour bridal. There is very little recently on this theme at your google fingertips. It’s all vintage at the minute, (haybales, Laura Ashley tablecloths and wildflowers). I know, because I took the lame route and checked.  So I went back to my art college practices and started pulling things from other sources.  Going back as far as vinyl covers from bands in that period. And old vogue covers, newspapers,  photos of my family from the 70s etc. We were looking at models like Jerry Hall, Lauren Hutton, Farrahh Fawcett, Bianca Jagger and glamour posing.  I didn’t do this alone. I had the A-team (Lynette and Jennifer) who helped me out with make-up and hair.   We created mood boards based on everything we’d seen for every shot needed for the magazine. I’ve got two small children who help with the pritt sticking. Then we went out, to shoot and create, in our own way.

When the internet arrived, in the beginning, I spent hours upon hours looking at the many photos in flickr from all over the world. I’ve spent way too much ‘lost time’ now on the internet. I was on maternity leave from designing on the wedding magazine with a creative gap in my life so I had some time on my hands. And it was so new to me. Exciting. An abundance of imagery out there for the visual taking. If visual imagery was counted in calories I would be over 20 stone by now. But in a sense, it was a good thing to do before I started upon my own journey.  Just enjoying all types of work without the pressure of comparison. But at some point you have to shut the computer and just go and shoot. I don’t believe we should be too focused on the ideas or lives of one or two people on the net, no matter how much we love them. You CAN love them TOO much. We are all human beings. They’re lives will look much more appealing through the ‘online looking glass’, but I bet there is just as much pain and hardship in their days as in yours. Please stop idolising other peoples lives. Most of the time it’s a ‘rose-tinted’ version of themselves on the social network. I for one, wish I had spent more valuable hours with my children when they were babies. That was a mistake, a big fault in my life. I can’t have that back now. It’s gone. Maybe we all wish we had had more time at different stages of life. But no one is living a perfect life. Get over it.

We should look for inspiration in many areas. Blogs are just the tip of the wedding cake, so to speak. I look at old family photos that I cherish, art books, magazines, tv, nature, film, books, my kids, my love for my husband, my family… anything really where I feel I’m connecting in my own life. You’ll know it when you feel the ‘heartpull’. That’s what I like to call it anyway. The things that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Take for example the film, ‘The King’s Speech’. When I watched that film and how the shots were composed, it got me excited about the possibilities of doing things differently, using lenses I hadn’t used before, and composing elements within the frame in a whole new way. I felt the ‘heartpull’.  There was growth for me in that, just taking two hours out to watch a movie instead of surfing the same blogs over and over. The wonderful thing about discovering photography is that feeling of the blindfold being taken off, and seeing the world in all it’s sparkling glory.

I have about three blogs now that I follow and they are all very different in their style.  But the only reason why I am drawn to these people is that they have something to say, and they are not afraid to say it. If I looked at just one person’s work all the time, the temptation would be there to copy. I might not even be doing it consciously, but it would happen. And anyway, your photography should be a reflection of you, not someone else. I want so much to see more people saying, “This is me” instead of “Me too”.  It’s the only thing that’s going to make you stand out in a completely over-saturated photography market. There is a deep satisfaction in seeing a moment, a person, with fresh eyes and revealing it to the world as an original thing.  I can’t understand why anyone would be excited about just producing a half-decent copy of that.  I know sometimes we find ourselves in the same location, in the same light, with the same equipment. You’ve got five minutes, you’re under pressure to get a shot and yes, it might end up looking like something you have in your memory banks. That’s ok. But don’t purposely go out to recreate the work of someone else. That’s not where you want to be. It’s not what you stand for. Is it?

I can only hope this blogpost is about helping fellow photographers. It’s not about killing your dreams. It’s about making them better.

The internet should give us the opportunity to become more diverse, not more of the same. It’s not a race or competition for ‘fans’ or ‘likes.’ That is no measure of how special you are as a person, how valuable or how talented.  Enjoy the wealth of imagery from around the world, then go out there and be a first-rate version of yourself.

Top image courtesy of flickr and all the wonderful photography out there.

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