On Style and Swag

Recently I've been thinking a lot about how I can "define" myself as a photographer. I look at other people's work and I think, "Man, what a great idea!" or "Wow, I wish I would have thought about that." I don't think there's anything wrong with looking at other people's work and extracting ideas or concepts, but I am a little concerned with where I stand in terms of "style."

The last thing I want to do is imitate someone. I'll admit that when I first started shooting I went off of some people's ideas or methods, and I still share some of those things. These are all minor, common doings, though, such as marking equipment with my name, putting a black border around some of my finished images, and cropping certain ways.

In my quest for finding my own style, I stumbled across this article from Sports Shooter. To sum it up, I, or anyone else in my situation, should not worry or search for my style: my style will find me eventually. And if it doesn't, well...not worrying about it.

On a similar note, commercial photographer Nick Vedros spoke last Thursday at MICA. Most of what he talked about was the business side of commercial photography, such as bidding correctly, being marketable, and balancing the art and the business. And, as arrogant as he may have been, he had me hooked when he spoke about having an Identity, and how crucial it is for you and your work to be recognized as one.


Switching gears.

The gear stork has landed on the beer-stained carpet outside of my dorm room several times in the last month. I thought I might take a moment to share what I have acquired with the enormous pool of readers I have attracted to this blog (you know who you are...anyone? hello?).





Above is my Manfrotto 681B Monopod next to a Pocket Wizard pre-trigger motor cable for my Canon 30D. The motor cable allows for remote firing up to about 1600 feet about, and the pre-trigger box on it keeps the camera body from falling asleep. Very handy for sports.

And of course this fine image couldn't be done without...(drum roll please)...a light stand and umbrella! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Manfrotto 3373 and a Westcott 43" umbrella with removable black cover. The flash shown is an SB-28 I haggled for with the fine people down at Service Photo in Baltimore, and it is being fired with Pocket Wizards that I got at a reduced price through MOC.





I am also proud to say that the majority of all this equipment was purchased on my own (that's saying a lot for being a college student). You can check out my Flickr page to see some of the work I've done so far with the new swag.

Next up: I am saving for a lens. Thinking 17-35mm f2.8 Canon, or something very similar. If anyone has any insight or recommendations, please let me know.