What inspires you?

Inspiration can be such a loose term with artists. Everything under the sun can "inspiration", which can sometimes be more hurtful than helpful.

I've found that it's taken me a long time to really narrow down what inspires me to be more me.

There are thousands of amazing photographers in the world. People so talented, so creative, so experienced, and so skilled. When I first started investigating other people's work I was overwhelmed. Everything was so good. I wanted to make art as well as all of them!! But that was not inspiring, it was hindering. My only goal then was to just get better, to make amazing photo's, but that's not very specific, now is it?

Over the years I have learned to listen to myself more when I look at other peoples work. I'm able to distinguish between a photographer who is great, and a photographer who I want to learn from. I've learned that no matter how great a photographer is, it doesn't mean that their style is similar to what I want for my business.

For example, when I first began studying photography, I followed a very random assortment of photographers. I found these people via google, flickr, friends and other local sources. Some of my favorites were:

Julie Watts 
Ross James
Ryan Flynn
Susan Stripling

Now if you are familiar with photography at all you should be able to tell that that is a very eclectic group. And surely if I was a photographer just starting out, trying to find inspiration, all those different styles would be down right confusing and exhausting. Imagine if I tried to take after every one of those photographers, they're all so different! But what I didn't have at that time was a sense of my own taste. Like I said earlier, the only thing that I was in tune to was that they were all great photographers, and much better than myself.

But once you do start to become aware of your own taste, don't be afraid to close the door on other inspirational sources. I've found that what I am really drawn to is natural, real, story telling photojournalism. Which is why out of the four photographers I mentioned, Ryan Flynn is the only one I still "follow", and in fact, he is shooting mine and Charlie's wedding next year! I'm inspired by his ability to make me feel like I am in a room he is photographing. I'm also inspired by Sean Flanigan, and the way he is unafraid to photograph the unconventional moments, the one's people think aren't "art". I'm inspired by how natural and consistent Julie Harmsen is with her color.

These people inspire me not to try to be like them, to copy them or to do what they do. But they inspire me to stop, dig into myself, and listen to what I love. They inspire me to have a unique taste for what I do. They inspire me to be unafraid and go my own way.

Listen to yourself and don't be afraid to be different. Learn from people who's art makes you feel, learn from people who have a good sense of who they are as photographers.