3rd Quarter Review of My Photography
While the title might feel a lot like a corporate report, I feel it is necessary for photographers of all levels to conduct such an introspective look at their work on a regular basis. I am starting mine with this article. By doing this, I hope to get valuable insights into my work and shape my path going forward.
It took me a while to decide how I could break down this study of my own work and introspection. What you will read below could be considered as a first draft of an ever evolving way I conduct this exercise. An exercise I hope to extend into studying other photographers on a regular basis.
What Has Been The Focus
Ever since I took the workshop with Rammy, my outlook on photography has evolved. While I am an avid collector of photography books, I rarely ever actually study any of them or any of the photographers. The change in my outlook and with his guidance I have started studying multiple photographers, until one particular professional stood out, Henry Gruyert. So it is fair to say, my focus over the past several months has been studying his work and applying it to my photography. I plan to summarize my study of him in an article in the coming months.
Another aspect that has been a focus is more of an internal process. I have this anxiety of picking up the camera and going out to shoot. I fear I will disappoint myself and/or others. The source of this anxiety is a story for another day, but by realizing the problem, the solution came easy. Instead of letting my feelings drive me to shoot or not to shoot, I shoot anyways and deal with the consequences of my own satisfaction later. Plus, also realizing the uniqueness in me and everyone has made me free-er from internal judgement and reliance on external validation. In summary, I am in the process of learning to trust my own judgement, intuition and self-acceptance.
What Has Changed
Culminating from these two exercise, I see two major shifts in my photography. Both is heavily influenced by the Harry Gruyaert, but still keeping what is unique to me intact.
The Way I See
Its been a year or two now that I have committed to shooting color. The shift came when I reprocessed the photo below from black and white to color.
However, I didn’t know what that meant until I started seeing color as the subject rather than just as a component or element in my photography. This has opened me up to new subjects, scenes and vision. While this new perspective has opened up for me to play around with, and I plan to play around with it well into next year, I am aware that over reliance on a single frame of mind can create a tunnel vision and repetitive output. So, I do plan to expand my skills and vision in more than one direction.
Apart from colors, I am also embracing shadows as a tool to create mystery, to obscure or simply as a subject in my photos . This way of seeing matured more during my travel to Japan in October (2025), so you are only seeing one image of that below.
Again though, over-reliance on this can come with the cost of opportunity. If its not a sunny day and there are no shadows, do I not shoot? Can’t do that. I have to build more skills to stack and employ at the right time.
The Way I Process
Coming from the shift to shooting color as my subject and incorporating more shadows, a shift in how I process photos needs to happen. This new way of processing (to me) is designed to accompany and enhance what the photo is meant to communicate. It involves playing around with the color sliders, which I first started doing in the mountain photo above, and having the courage to crush the blacks in a photograph. Creating a vibrant and high contrast images in the process.
What Next
I have distilled down the things I want to work on in the coming few months.
Keep shooting and experimenting with color as the subject.
Study Harry Gruyaert more in depth and expanding my studies into William Eggleston.
Experiment with shooting calmer, less vibrant and more emotionally led photos.
In the meantime, enjoy the gallery from the last 3 months below.
