Focus on ingenuity and click your own style

Praveen Bhat

Loving what you do is a benefit to anyone’s professional life, but in photography, that love enhances your images. If the thought of becoming a photographer has already struck your mind, the first thing you would have to do is get your hands on the various forms of photography to have a clear image of which form really interests you and you can excel in.

The path to success and financial security is fraught with uncertainty in any art form unless you know the tricks of the trade. If you’re just starting out, you’re likely facing one of the most difficult professional periods in your life – that critical moment when you get on your feet and get the ball rolling. Here is my list of advice for aspiring fashion photographers:

• Pick your focus: What part of fashion are you going for? One must “donate” a couple of years to fashion photography before answering this question. Fashion photography conveys an essence of authority. Set apart the fact that you would want to be a professional fashion photographer, experiment to a great extent till you have anchored the title. If needed get some basic courses in photography so you can understand the functions of a camera.

• Be confident and secure: Fashion photography needs poise and composure. Showing signs of anxiety, stress or lack of direction will invariably be reflected in your work. A fashion photographer leads the photo shoot. He needs to have an idea about the pose, locations, clothes, makeup and other things involved in the shoot.

• Keep shooting: The road to becoming a successful fashion photographer can be a long one. Go out and experiment with your thoughts and ideas. Do not give up. Shoot in the beginning as a hobby in all of your spare time. The experience will be invaluable later on in your career.

• Develop your own style: Develop an original style. When you first start shooting it is easy to fall into the trap of copying other artists and trying to shoot their style. This is not always bad. But art imitates life and not the masters. Work on developing your own style and you will be rewarded for it handsomely.

• Always be aware: A photographer has an ability to really see the world in front of them through the lens. To become a successful photographer you should start seeing even familiar things in a new way. The art of photography is all about creating a moment, a mood, and bringing out the story of the picture through the composition.

To sum it up, let's just say this is a field of ongoing progress, the more time and effort you put in, the better results it would showcase.

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