Inspiration and What to Photograph?

Good morning everyone.

I am not sure if many of you might have had similar trouble in the past, but what do you do when you are looking to photograph something for an assignment? Maybe you are just looking for inspiration. This is what I have been doing all of yesterday and then a big portion of this morning.

Writing as an Ambassador for The Art Institute can be quite a challenging task and you need to make sure that the articles relate to the work that the students require and are learning about. Once you have covered all the basics of been a student you find yourself dealing with situations from the real world.

How do I get my work seen by the world? What genre of photography should I photograph? Will I make money by photographing that? How do I market my work? and the list goes on and on.

Today I found this article in the NY Times an article by Teju Cole. It is all about inspiration and where we look for photographs. Now I am not going to recap the article here. Your job will be to go over and read it. It is part of the process of finding what interests you and what you could be photographing.

I am here to tell you how that article has opened my eyes to seeing the world around me. Sometimes we just have to take a step back and look at the world as it is. Trying to find something that is not there can be very challenging and you might just not be looking in the right place.

What I took away from the article were the few words at the end of the first paragraph,  "photography could reach eternity through the moment.’’ 

I believe that when you enter the field of photography, you will definitely be learning all about the fundamentals and requirements of making a great photograph. However, once you have learned these rules and regulations it is up to you to get out there and practice them so that when the time comes you will be able to take the decisive photograph without thinking because of muscle memory and the training that you have received.

Yes, there are moments when you need to take certain photographs for certain assignments, but at times you need to just capture the moment and have some faith and trust in the training that you have received.

Have a great day and we will speak again soon.

© Henry Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos