Working on a Series
Lamp Post, Coeur D’Alene City Park, ID
As a photographer aiming to improve your skills, there are many areas to focus on, from composition and mastering camera settings to learning new techniques like long exposure photography. But if you're serious about growing as a photographer, consistency is a crucial area to work on early in your journey. Consistency underpins all the other skills we learn and significantly affects our success.
Consistency is crucial but challenging to achieve. Creating images with the same quality and style, time and time again, is a goal all photographers aspire to reach. Developing consistency requires practice, dedication, and effort. One effective way to work on consistency in your photography is by creating a series of images. A photo series captures multiple images with a common theme, subject, or style. This approach requires careful planning and forethought.
It's important to note that the series doesn't have to be high art; it simply needs to be a coherent and consistent collection. For example, my impressionistic photo series using the "Photo in the Round” technique, which can be seen below, is a coherent collection in which each image belongs to the same series. Although it is still a work in progress, it represents a cohesive collection.
When mastering a new skill or technique, the real progress begins when you can consistently create high-quality images. Engaging in a series compels you to meticulously consider every aspect of your photography and learn from your successes and failures. It aids in refining your skills and transitioning from capturing random shots to purposefully creating and recreating images under different conditions and with various subjects.
To all photographers, whether new or experienced, I urge you to embark on the transformative journey of creating a series of images. This path doesn't demand your work to be of professional quality or even for public display. It's a personal journey that hones your skills and understanding of the essential skill of consistency. It's an achievable journey that has the potential to not only elevate your photography but also inspire profound personal growth, pushing you to new creative heights.
