Pixiq

Telling a story based around a theme or idea can bring new life and energy to your photographys. Recently I was part of a team that worked on showing photo students around the country how to shoot their style to fit into a theme. The resulting images will end up in a group gallery exhibit in New York the end of summer 2011. I was shocked when many of the students felt they couldn't figure out how to shoot around the theme. Some felt the theme was too broad but the theme was selected by the gallery staff in order to make the students stretch the limits of their imagination. Some did exceptionally well and grew in the process. Others felt pressured to produce and cracked under the pressure. Learning how to interpret an idea and weave your style into it is what launches great careers. Lets say an editor from a great magazine gives ten photographers the concept of shooting "American Beauty". One photographer may interpret his "American Beauty" as a tight shot of dead birds covered in oil after an oil spill, and have a second image beside it an off-shore oil rig. Another photographer may show a beautiful shot of a corn field beside images of all the products that contain high frutose corn syrup in them. Another still may show images inspired by the film, American Beauty. There are so many ways to interpret any theme visually but whatever you shoot, your images should speak to how you feel and what's important to you. Every image you shoot should have your thumb print deeply embedded in its core. The image above was done the day after Barack Obama was elected President of the United States and done in front of a class to illustrate my vision of "Stars and Stripes". It could also be used to show how I feel about american beauty as well. To practice expressing your style visually, select a theme and shoot it for the next month. By shooting your chosen theme you will sharpen your storytelling skills and create a body of work to generate more interesting work for years to come. As you shoot your theme think of showing images in spreads, the same way we view images in a magazine. Your story should include no less than eight images which equates to four spreads. More on storytelling in tomorrow's post. Always Dream Big Matthew Jordan Smith website: www.MatthewJordanSmith.com instructional videos: www.Gallery.MatthewJordanSmith.com