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Look within

October 22, 2021 in journal

My photography book collection is rather small: just a handful of volumes I really adore.

Books are an important source of inspiration, and I'd definitely have more if I had a permanent home. But I can't help to think that keeping it small has helped my photography in many unexpected ways.

I lack formal education in the arts, even less in photography. I didn't have a mentor either. I learned many things from work I was seeing online, and from the books I do own, but most of what I know, I gained from experience alone. From the daily practice of photography.

Of course my work and myself as a person are heavily influenced by others. We are humans after all, we don't live in a vacuum. But the lack of formal knowledge and understanding of photography made me freer than I would be otherwise.

Free from comparisons, free from following the rules, and free from not following the rules. I was doing photography for the sake of photography.

This is still true today. For example, I try not to look at other photographer's images of a place I'm going to visit soon. I like to see it myself first, to take it all in with an empty mind, free from preconceived ideas, and make the images I see. Then, I might take a look, often to realize just how different or how similar we saw that location. It's fun.

There's a lot value in studying someone else's work, but sometimes, it's more fun to go somewhere with an open mind and try to create something different. Something that comes from within.

Tags: photography, inspiration, masters, photographers, photo book
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