Style Week Posts:
Selina Maitreya Day One
Daron Shade Day Two
Christian O’Dell Day Three
Ivar Teunissen
Kirk Tuck Day Five

If you have come in at this point, be sure to go back to the first post and start there.

I believe that style is innate within each of us. It is our core vision. It is what makes us tick visually.

And it has been locked away for a long long time. The locks have names like “not good enough” and “they won’t like it” and “if only I could…” They are viciously difficult to break, and the keys are not easily found.

So we shoot and shoot and shoot with the locks in place. Again and again.

Then one day we take that shot. You know the one I am talking about. It may seem all wrong to us… and yet just perfect at the same time. Is it the locks growing weaker and beginning to loosen? Perhaps. But it is now important to find that moment again. And again.

And again.

And the locks begin to fall away and instead of hearing them say “not good enough” we hear the voices of our own style saying “yes… now push it a bit more.” It can be really amazing when it happens.

And it can only happen by putting fingers on buttons and pushing. And learning everything we can learn about what the tools at hand can do. I am not a gear-head as you all know, but I know more about the gear I use than I talk about. I have to.

You cannot find your vision if you are fighting your gear. Your tools must be an extension of what you want to accomplish. They cannot be the reason for the photograph, but rather the means to achieve it.

Assignment:
Look at your images and find three that really REALLY trip your trigger so to speak. Write down a little about what you think you love about them… how they make you feel. (If you would like to chat about them, there is a Flickr Group for LE. Use the tag LE-Style-Assign-1 and we can discuss them there. Discuss, not ridicule or humiliate. I hate that Flickr shit.) That is simply an invitation not a demand.

Writing out what we like makes us focus more. It can be a terribly difficult task, but if you do it I think you will be very pleased with the outcome… even if you decide you don’t particularly like the image after all.

Now up: Daron Shade. (www.daronshade.com) You may recognize the name – Daron has guest posted on LE before.

Daron is a photographer in Tucson, AZ. He has some exciting news to share, and I will let him share that with you all. Here is Daron’s Audio Interview. Below are some images from Daron’s portfolio.

Daron Shade Photographer: www.daronshade.com

Daron Shade Photographer: www.daronshade.com

Daron Shade Photographer: www.daronshade.com

Thanks for coming along. I hope you take the challenge and do the assignment. If you decide to put them on the Flickr site, I will of course discuss them with you.

I will be in Calgary this weekend. Meeting a great group of photographers up there. We plan on having a blast in a brand new studio, and making some great images.

If you are interested in a workshop, I do hope you check out Learn to Light for destinations and more information. As always, follow me on Twitter for daily notes and tips.

See you tomorrow with another interview and another assignment.