It's all very well to fast-track your technical skills, but how do you quickly improve the aesthetics in your work and where do your ideas come from? This section of Photo Process is based on my 10:10:10 approach to building up a database of ideas, inspirations and influences.
Find 10 photographers or painters. Find 10 of their works that you absolutely love. Download them and put them into folders. Now, write down 10 things about each of those works, explaining why you love them. Don't do it all at once - I suggest you do it every Sunday evening at 7:30pm with a glass of red wine over a period of 10 weeks. Okay, so over a period of three months with a break here and there and you can drink white wine if you have to! This process of positive reinforcement will build up a subconscious database of ideas that you can employ every time you take a photo.
Of course, the idea is to find your own inspiration, but as a starting point, here is a selection of photographers and artists who have inspired and influenced me.
Alexey Brodovitch Although also a photographer, Alexey Brodovitch is known best as an art director and designer, one whom all the leading photographers of New… Caravaggio If there is one word that describes Caravaggio's work for me, it is 'Light'! It is bold, dramatic and moving. And it often occurs… Gregory Colbert Photography isn't just about the image, When it comes to an exhibition, it's also about the experience and the 'object' that is hung… Eddie Ephraums I was introduced to Eddie's work when sent a copy of his book on landscape photography and the amazing way he printed his… Franco Fontana You know, that classic Tuscan landscape with the pencil pines and ploughed fields, compressed into a minimalist composition of simple line, shapes and… Caspar David Friedrich For some people, the Romantic art movement isn't serious enough, but I think it says more about the critics than the art… Kahn & Selesnick You don't have to shoot or create work like the artists who influence you. I've never produced work like that of Nicholas… Michael Kenna A true art photographer in every sense of the word, Michael Kenna still works comfortably with a medium format film camera and produces… Sheila Metzner Sitting between the boundaries of fashion and art photography, Sheila Metzner has taught me a lot about colour, which may seem difficult given… Grant Mudford Precision framing or cropping is fundamental to Grant Mudford's large format Amercian landscape of nothing in particular. A master of the banal landscape,… Irving Penn I don't believe in having a favourite photograph or favourite photographer, but if I had to have one, it would be Irving Penn.… Nicholas Roerich When choosing your influences, they don't have to be mainstream. It's all about finding work that resonates with you. And for me, Nicholas… Rocky Schenck While the black and white photography of Ansel Adams has inspired generations of photographers, including myself, his masterful approach has changed in our… Hiroshi Sugimoto Black and white Japanese minimalism. Hiroshi Sugimoto is really an artist who uses a camera. The concept behind his various projects is as… Grahame Sydney A contemporary New Zealand painter who has spread his interests to photography and visual media generally, I love Grahame Sydney's choice of subject… Pete Turner Did someone mention 200% colour saturation? Using slide film and a copier, Pete Turner pushed the limits of colour photography back in the…
