Finding Your Unique Visual Language

Early in my photographic career, two of my photographer friends were out on a fine art photo trip and I suggested we all take a photo from the same tripod holes.  I wanted to experiment and see if we all saw the world in the same way.

To my surprise, all of our photographs looked completely different.  We all have, what I call our own "Visual Language".  Everyone sees the world in their own unique way.

I recently took this a step further and looked to see if there were any similarities between my personal fine art photography and my commercial photography.

What do you think?

For those of you just getting started, the process of finding your personal "Visual Language" will take some time.

The best way I know to figure this out is to shoot, shoot, shoot!

The other advice I have that has helped me figure this out is, print out little thumbnail prints (no more than 2x3 inches ) of your favorite images.  Lay them out on the floor and start putting the images together that look and feel similar.  This will help you start seeing your own "Visual Language".

  

    

Tell Us A Story

As we mentioned last month, we've been shooting some projects lately that convey different stories. The concept of these projects has been to entice the viewer with mouthwatering food and invite them into the world we've created. 

In part two of our storytelling project, we'd like you to tell us the story instead of us walking you through it. We envisioned a plot that inspired these images. But the story we imagined may not be the story you see. What's your interpretation of these scenes?

Some Storytelling and A Little Southern Cooking

We've been shooting some projects lately that tell more of a visual story than straight-up product shots. The concept of these projects has been to entice the viewer with mouthwatering food and invite them into the world we've created. Let us walk you through a couple of the stories.

I know you can smell warm peanut butter cookies with a hint of coffee from the Java Jam drizzled on top. You can feel the ice cold, creamy milk as it hits the back of your throat, chasing the tasty cookie. You can also imagine yourself in that warm, sun-drenched kitchen listening to the birds chirp through an open window on a lazy weekend afternoon. Can't you?

Fresh local milk and Java Jam topped peanut butter cookies

It's summertime in the South. Someone grabs an old, weathered table and drags it under a huge oak tree for a picnic on a steamy afternoon. On the menu? Spicy Southern fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits smothered with Tupelo honey, pickled tomatoes from the garden, cabbage slaw and fresh squeezed lemonade. Finger-lickin' good!

Summertime Southern fried chicken with pickled tomatoes

Some "behind the scenes" captured while shooting these two images...