At this time of year, the events start to thin out a little, and the opportunities for the adventurous motorsport photographer become a little sparse.
I’ve noticed this quite a bit this year, as my usual routine of an-event-each-weekend has dropped off to one every fortnight, or even longer.
In the meantime, I try and keep my enthusiasm up by monitoring what others are doing that little more closely; I ponder over angles, techniques and the world of creative images I see daily on Instagram or twitter. Some I like. Some I don’t.
I think pondering over others images is a good thing.
It’s good to see what peoples perspectives are, how others interpret different scenes and circuits, especially if – like me – those photographers are ‘stuck’ at the same locations.
How do they stay creative? Do they get stuck in a photographic merry-go-round or do they constantly evolve their style.
It also give you a good overview of those photographer who are established and how they approach the infinite variety that they are presented with, surfing the world and interpreting it in their own special way.
Or does it?
Take Instagram for example. I follow a heap of photographers I admire for different reasons; they may be elite, they may be ‘the competition’, they may present a totally different style to what I try and create and so become inspiration.
As a developing snapper of motor racing scenes, I gain inspiration and guidance from all these sources. But every now and again, somebody will throw in a doosie.
A few weeks ago – and without naming any names – I was bewildered as one of the photographers I have admired and been inspired by for a long time, posted what I thought was crap.
Big words huh, but I rubbed my eyes, refreshed the feed and continued to look at what I can only describe as a mistake, somebody elses work, it was that far removed from the usual.
Why would they do that? Why would they post images that were so far off their usual standard, they stuck out like a sore thumb.
That got me thinking.
What is being creative in photography?
Is it the ability to adapt to different situations and produce consistent images? Or is it the ability to not care about what others think and tangent off at any given moment? Is it sticking to a style or applying new technique?
Creativity, me thinks, is in the eye of the beholder; not just the artist – more importantly the audience.
Some will see cutting edge interpretation, some will see mess.
And that is where having confidence in what you do is imperative.
Over the weekend I shot around 1,300 frames (10,000 was just a better blog title) despite the roller coaster weather and the familiar surroundings.
Why so many? Well I was trying to be creative, or rather, what I interpret photographic creativity to be. I try and take all the inspiration I see, all the different styles and techniques and combine them into my own visions.
Sometimes it works, a lot of the time it doesn’t, but only in the sense of knowing what I want to achieve and not hitting the spot.
It’s that confidence in understanding what you want to capture that is key to developing your images. No matter what your style, outlook or approach, having the confidence in your own eye and understanding is what will see you through.
That confidence is there in spades for our instagram mentor who posts what they like.
I didn’t like it, but, hey, they don’t care about what I think…they have already made it.
Tuck into my representation of the action from the Historic Sports Car Club finals. A veritable banquet of beautifully classic machinery, circling the national at Silverstone. I hope you like the images.
Thank you to the HSCC and Silverstone for the accreditation.
0 Thoughts on 10,000 Frames.