An Idea for Making Photography more Fun
If you often don't know what to photograph, or are looking for ways to expand your creativity with photography, then I've got a great exercise for you today. It will also help you train your creative vision.
If you enjoy walking around looking for "potentially good things to photograph" (as opposed to looking for something particular, or setting up a scene to capture), then sooner or later you'll start to veer towards the same motifs you've succeeded with in the past. It's also possible that you'll capture them in a similar way as well. Over time, the process will become tedious and boring, and you'll be heading towards a creative rut.
Use the following idea during a photowalk, turn it into a 30-day challenge, or refer to it whenever scenes begin to become boring when you're out with your camera.
The Idea:
The idea is to turn any scene into a film set in your photos. The idea for this blog post came from Lampa.Camera on Instagram: "Start looking at places as if they were part of a film". In doing so, you're taking a new approach and creating images you would never have contemplated capturing before https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ29AS9iEuB/?img_index=2
Any scene or location could potentially be used as a film location, so wherever you are, start training your eye and your imagination to envision how it could be used. Imagine you're a photographer who has been given the task of finding different locations for a particular film - photograph the scene in a way that emphasises your choices.
Think:
A supermarket parking lot becomes a Coen Brothers crime drama...
A bar becomes the scene of a mass shooting à la Tarantino...
A suburban bus stop becomes a coming-of-age indie film, where a girl sits with only a bulging rucksack and her guitar, waiting for the next Greyhound bus...
A foggy woodland path becomes a folk horror movie...
An office building becomes a corporate thriller where the killer lurks behind the filing cabinet...
A railway station becomes the setting for a wartime romance where two lovers part forever...
Essentially, any scene can be used in any film, so don't get too wound up in the details. In this first part of the exercise, all you need to do is capture the mood, so don't worry about props or characters.
When you encounter a new spot, what is the first type of film that comes to mind? What could take place in the scene? Something every day, or something dramatic?
Examples:
Neo-noir
Romantic drama
Science fiction
Psychological thriller
Western
Folk horror
Road movie
An extension of the exercise would be to imagine applying the same approach to different types of movies. For instance:
A staircase is no longer a staircase.
It's:
an escape route,
a meeting place,
a final goodbye,
a secret rendezvous,
a crime scene.
Capture the scene in a way that conveys the mood of what you imagine will take place there. This may sound slightly ungraspable, but the best way to capture a mood or a feeling is with light.
Soft golden light that occurs in the late afternoon is great for romantic or thoughtful scenes.
Cool morning light is more melancholy.
Strong shadows are great for creating drama.
Dusk is perfect for mystery and suspense.
Darkness equals danger.
You can use editing tricks to further enhance the mood.
You can also imagine looking for scenes to use in a remake of one of your favourite films, or select a film genre and look for locations where the story will play out.
How to continue:
The second part of the activity is to actually turn the scene into a photo (a snapshot of a scene in the movie) or a photo series. It's a great opportunity to develop your photography skills and train your photographic eye.
The best way to start is by watching several movies and analysing the setting AND how the camera-person captures it. Look at the compositions, perspectives, and light. How do they frame the main characters? In light pockets? By positioning themselves so that the main character contrasts with their background? Filmmakers are amazingly good at creating atmosphere. You'll be amazed at how often a character is tiny or even out of focus, yet still draws your eye.
In the past, whilst watching movies at home, I've jumped up from the sofa several times to capture an interesting composition with my smartphone camera, and I highly recommend you do the same. Create a little album in your image archive on your smartphone, and refer to the images inside regularly or purposefully try to copy them.
By taking this out-of-the-box approach, you'll quickly notice how interesting-looking your photos will start to look.
You can use all the ideas you learned above, then add accessories and characters to create the movie scene in photos. Maybe they are even already there; then all you have to do is wait for the perfect moment. In the image below, I waited until the scene only included a couple of people and a train pulling into the distant platform. The photo needs to ask the questions:
Where did they come from?
What will they do next?
Essentially, everyone who ever views the photo will answer the questions differently.
Another variation would be to scour a city for perfect locations, capture lots of shots and then plan how you will later include them in an image series. Ask your friends to star in the series, or bring accessories to include.
I truly hope you found the ideas inspiring and that you can't wait to pick up your camera and start photographing again.
If you need more creative impulses, make sure you download the ebook "The Creative Reset - for Photographers".