Walking through Porto Azzurro the other week I was passing through the small shady alleys of the old town trying to find some protection from the blazing midday sun when I heard someone playing a bass. Through the open doors of an otherwise empty bar I saw this guy sitting in front of wide open windows, seemingly fully ignorant of the world around him, playing away some experimental tunes on his bass guitar. Even while improvising he played full of passion, and I felt very attached to the sights and sounds of this particular scene.
Shouldn’t we all do some more experimenting of our own? Playing around with things and in ways we are not familiar with? Ignorant of those who tell us what we should do and ignorant of the first achievements while expanding our creative horizons. After all, expanding our knowledge and horizons through experimentations is deeply embedded in our genes, as this is exactly what children do when they “discover” their world. And children don’t really care how the initial results look while singing, drawing, building etc., they rather enjoy the activity itself, the process of experimentation and discovery.
As photographers we can learn a lot from the trial and error approach of children. First of all it helps you to get your creative juices flowing when trying out new photographic styles. Experimenting around is fun, and don’t let yourself get discouraged when initial results don’t meet your usual standards. And don’t let other people tell you what you should or should not do, or what looks nice and what doesn’t. Just experiment with things you like and see how the results gradually improve. Enjoy the road of discovery.
Photography is my passion, Street Photography is the style that works best for me, but photographically I have tried many genres and still try out new styles. For example during this years summer holidays I experimented a lot with portrait photography.
And also creating “Streets of Nuremberg”, starting a blog to write about my photographic endeavors was (is still) an experiment to open a new creative outlet for me.
By experimenting more try to expand your horizons and find out what works best for you. Inspirations you can find everywhere, in books, other websites and blogs, social media or by talking to friends and connections in the digital world.
Discovery through experimentation can help to overcome the dullness of daily routine and to find happiness, purpose, and more motivation to live.
So go out and experiment!
Have a great Sunday!
Marcus
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Thank you for stopping by Storyteller. — Ray
beautifully framed photo, and well said about “trail and error” when it comes to photography. thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your visit and your kind words, its highly appreciated!
I’m enjoying reading your thoughts about photography in general and specifically street photography. As a recent newcomer to the genre I have often struggled coming to terms with the criticism leveled at it. (invasion of privacy etc) I so agree with your advice to not let others tell you how it should be done. I have found some SP forums online are full of really negative criticisms and I now avoid them having now found my own comfortable and enjoyable style of photographing the streets.
Thank you for your excellent blog.
Thanks so much for your comment! Glad someone is reading the stuff I write :-), that is definitely encouraging ! Don’t be intimitated by the negative touch a lot of people put on our photographic genre. I see myself as a documenter of todays society. I myself enjoy so much looking at photographs from pre- and post WWII time because they show me how life was some 70 ago when my grandparents were young. And these images were taken by the “street photographers” of that time. And today we are glad we have those documents. So where is the difference to today? I don’t want to invade the privacy of my subjects, far from it. And I would never take/publish an image of someone who doesn’t want it. But I see myself as a documenter of my time, capturing everyday life as I see it for further generations (e.g. my grandkids should I ever have some) to look at,a s much as I enjoy looking at photographs from the past.
I totally agree with your sentiments about street photography providing a valuable social history resource, and although I also enjoy landscape photography, shooting on the street is exciting and challenging, and (at my advanced age) a wonderful new interest for me.
I’ve also just ordered my first photobook of street pics which I hope might interest my grandkids when they get older too. (I hope you eventually have grandkids…they are cool) 🙂
I’ll enjoy reading your inspirational posts both new and old. Keep up the good work.
Excellent shot, Marcus. Love the contrasts and composition.
Thanks for the compliment, Jane. Nice thing to read on a Monday morning 😉….
Nice capture. I like how you captured the person in silhouette.
Thanks so much 🙂
You’re welcome.