I have started recently to add some of my work to istockphoto.com and I have realized how very few of the photos I have can be deemed as worthy from a technical point of view. And I said to myself that yeah, ok, I only had a stock compatible camera for little time so it makes sense. From this point on I can only get better, technically speaking.
Later on I have started exploring a bit around, mainly interested about getting into some photo competitions. I personally dislike photography competitions but I never dismiss a good way to add some accomplishments to my portfolio, that may get me in the future some good clients. Examining what kind of photos usually win, I noticed that the creative view is at least as much, if not more important than the technical execution. Thus, I have started to explore my collection of photos for the last 2 years to see what kind of photos that I have taken qualify for this kind of competitions. This means photos with a vision, photos that can be considered beyond just descriptive, with some sort of message or meaning behind.
[coment] The above photo was taken with a tele-lens, hand-held while testing the equipment. Even if it is a good photo, it looses its artistic value almost completely because it is the product of luck, with no creative vision involved beyond the minimal post-processing work.
While doing the above, I have realized that my photos, while are becoming decent, lack the most basic creative vision. They do have an obvious subject, they have basic composition but too often people are willing to say “This is a nice photo” instead “This is an interesting place” or “This is an interesting idea”. So, my photos, in the best case scenario, transmit just feeling and maybe have a certain mood, but not in consistent and creative way. If you decide to browse the 1x.com collection, you will get what I mean. That collection is indeed amazing and I did a sort of a personal goal to have a photo featured there. I still feel quite far from that point.
Something is obviously broken. I am thinking that I should get some proper art education. Being in Sweden doesn’t really help with that. Most of the studies are done in Swedish and I can’t really find a photographer around here willing to take me under his “wing”. So I am trying to study art and it ain’t easy. I doubt it is going to work very well in the end, but I’ve got nothing to loose except for time, but since I enjoy doing it, should be time well spent.
P.S. The introductory photo depicts the Black Church from Brasov city in Romania.