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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