If you go on Instagram and look through images tagged with popular locations or hashtags for landscape photography, you will probably find that many of the photos are of the same general style. As a result of this, a lot of photography advice will tell you to develop your own personal style so that you can differentiate yourself from other photographers.
Is that the most effective strategy, though? In this wonderful video, an accomplished landscape photographer explains why that can actually get you into a bit of trouble and what you should do instead.
This wonderful video essay is brought to you by Alister Benn of Expressive Photography. In it, he discusses the idea that you need to develop your own personal style in order to be successful in landscape photography.
When you develop a specific, codified personal voice, you are almost obligated to stick to it, and that can lead you to force yourself to shoot and edit in ways that the conditions and subject matter might not be conducive to, or it can even cause you to miss opportunities altogether. I believe that Benn makes a really good point here: when you develop a specific, codified personal voice, you are almost obligated to stick to it.
One must take care to avoid being overly prescriptive in their approach; however, this does not mean that one should not discover their tendencies and preferences. You can get the entire scoop from Benn in the video that’s been embedded above.
