Try EVERYTHING

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Do you ever find yourself in a rut, maybe feeling a little stale shooting the same types of subjects over and over again?  Cassandra O’Leary is blogging today to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and try a totally new subject because you never know what you might learn!

A Wandering Eye
by Cassandra O’Leary

I feel as though I have written this a thousand times and every single time I have written it, it has turned out differently. When I started I thought, “Yeah, I know exactly what I want to write about.  I mean it’s an easy enough concept.  How hard could it be to convince people that trying a little bit of everything is a good thing in photography?” Well apparently trying to actually write down why you should jump out of your comfort zone every now and again is quite difficult. I want to make people see that learning a new skill, experimenting, and just generally remembering why they picked up a camera in the first place is a great way to improve your photography. But trying to actually get this down on paper with any hope of it actually making sense, well that was hard and I am still not quite sure that I have managed it.

But here we go, are you ready? TRY EVERYTHING. That’s it. That’s what I wanted to say.  Ok you can go now. Have fun. Chat later.

Only joking, there is more. Where shall we start? I know, tell me why did you pick up a camera? Stop and think about it for a second. Now I want you to think about it a little bit more, a lot of people these days buy cameras, a lot of people take daily photographs of their lives and routines, some use a point and shoot and some just their phones. So tell me what is it that actually made you take it that one step further? What is it that really started your obsession? I mean it’s not the actual camera, no matter how gorgeous gear can be. So what was it, for YOU?

Personally I am a little bit obsessed with the frame and the arrangement of elements within a frame. I have a graphic design background and I am very attracted to design in photography such as symmetry, shapes, lines and colour among others. I love to see the combination of elements within a frame, whether that be to tell a story or to show the beauty of a still-life. I tend to look at a photograph a bit like a design project. Studying the work of other photographers and really looking at their images to see what it is that I like and what I don’t like, as well as the why and how something works, has really been a huge factor in my learning. I enjoy studying every single genre.  This is something I never imagined I would until I opened my eyes up to the possibilities. For example, I love how Elliott Erwitt captures moments and humour. I love the graphic shapes and use of colour in Jay Maisel’s work. I always look at food photography because I am fascinated by the design and placement of objects within the frame which are used to balance the shot as well as add to the mood and the story. Lighting in still-life photography really helps to understand the mood one can create through simple lighting techniques and angles. Studying environmental portraiture and documentary photography is great for looking at story telling elements within a frame as well as creative exposure settings.

I think due to my obsession with design within a frame I have an unhealthy curiosity with seeing how everything and anything looks through a viewfinder. I have tried to photograph almost everything.  In fact my obsession is probably why I can never stick to a project. I get far too easily bored.

But after years of this insanity I have actually learned something pretty important. It really doesn’t matter what kind of photographer you are.  We can all learn from each and every genre in photography, as well as from other forms of creative art for that matter.

Let me give you some personal examples: I started out as an aspiring landscape photographer and for years that was all that I did. Only about a year after my son was born did I actually think to study portraiture. I have now taken far too many workshops and practiced loads of portraiture photography.  In the beginning I truly sucked at it but I soon realized that I was thinking about it all wrong. I had photographic knowledge already from studying and practicing landscape photography, I just had to adapt it. This has opened my eyes to things I would never before have tried. I now really love environmental portraiture and documentary photography.  I have found that studying macro photography as well as practicing food photography, still-life photograph, and product photography has really taught me a lot about lighting and angles as well as making me appreciate the finer details, and all of this can be adapted and used to improve my landscape and portraiture photography.

You see it really is such a simple thing –  practice diversity and you will learn things you didn’t realize you even wanted to learn. Everything that you learn, every new skill you gain, can so easily be adapted to enhance your preferred genre and could also give you a creative edge by looking at something from outside the box. Opening your eyes and stepping out of your comfort zone can really only be a good thing. So what are you waiting for!!?! Get out there, raise that viewfinder to your eye and see your world, your whole world within your frame.

Cassandra O’Leary

Cassandra O’Leary is a little bit of a control freak with a strong coffee and dark chocolate addiction. Studying and learning new skills is one of her many passions. She has always been a foreigner and moves around the world every few years. With her kids and her camera as companions she captures her world.

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