THE ANSWER WAS IN THE THINGS I COULDN’T STOP NOTICING.

For a long time, I thought if I changed locations, my photos would finally feel different. Better.

But they didn’t.

Because I was still looking at everything the same way.

It took me a long time to truly find my voice. In many ways, I’m still searching.

Eventually I started looking back through the photos I connected with most, and even the ones I didn’t like.

I kept coming back to the same things.

Heavy shadows.

Obscured faces.

Motion.

Mystery.

And I didn’t plan that.

I discovered it.

That’s when I realized I had been thinking about finding my photography style backwards.

We spend so much time trying to figure out what we should photograph.

Trying new locations.

Learning new techniques.

Looking at what other photographers are making.

But sometimes the answer is already sitting in your old work.

Think about your car.

Before you bought it, you probably barely noticed it on the road.

Then suddenly, you started seeing it everywhere.

Did everyone suddenly buy the same car?

Probably not.

You just started noticing it.

I think photography works the same way.

Once you recognize what naturally pulls your eye in, it becomes a lot harder to ignore.

A reflection.

A silhouette.

Motion.

A version of the world that exists for a moment and never again.

Sometimes I’d take the photo before I even understood why.

Looking back, I realized my own work had been leaving clues for me the whole time.

I thought I was searching for something.

But a part of me had already found it.

The hardest part wasn’t figuring out what I liked.

It was trusting it.

Maybe finding your photography style isn’t really something you need to chase.

Maybe you just need to pay attention to the things you can’t stop noticing.

STAY CURIOUS

A note every now and then about photography, filmmaking, and learning to see.

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