I was paid a very kind compliment today regarding a recently made photograph. The kind observation was that it was very much in the style of a very famous landscape photographer- a genuine household name. This got me thinking about a question that has vexed me for a very long time. What is my style? The sub question is inevitably, 'and should I have one?'There are many photographers including most (though not all) of the best who have an almost instantly recognisable style. You see the photograph and are at least half way to identifying the maker before reading the byline. For some it may be long exposures, monochrome, pinhole, heavy vignetting, compositional strategies or even colour palette. I think that many if not all of these individuals tend to impose their 'formula' onto the scene or alternatively choose only a subject and conditions that fit their concept. For me it seems to be a little different ( how many times have I said those words over the last 58 years...). The 'style' almost seems to be in the scene already. Sometimes I see it at the instant and sometimes it 'grows' during review or processing. For all of us, every photographic outcome is the result of everything that we have experienced in our lives, our resulting personality and mood. Each one contains somewhere, some aspect, echo or tiny ripple from every single photograph we have ever seen.I'm enjoying watching this develop and wondering what if any 'my style' will be. Comments made by others suggest that it may be something that others observe first, more or differently. Right now I continue to make pictures and they seem to have little in common and often form as much due to my state of mind at that moment as anything. Kelly Hall Tarn at Torver near Coniston in the English Lake District.
