How do you keep your images unique ?

I'm just curious as to how photographers keep their images fresh; i.e. unique; different from others. What drives your vision ?

I work really hard on POV. About 99.9932% of photographers shoot standing up with their camera at eye level, that is unless their tripod won't reach so high. Some of my best sellers have been "belly flop" shots with wide angle lenses- dump the tripod and nevermind the mud. Get down flat and go for it with your camera sometimes flat on the ground, sometimes a foot high or so depending on the immediate foreground. Dandy way to completely eliminate people, parking lots, roads and even whole buildings from a scene.

Number 2 on my freshener list is a higher POV- I pack a 6' stepladder in my truck virtually at all times. For even more elevation I erect it and tie it securely in the bed. Use a Bogen clamp for your tripod head on the top rung if you need the extra support.

You'll be flat amazed what you can do with familiar locations simply by getting shorter or taller.

Don't shoot what everyone else shoots. Photograph what you know where you are. Don't run off to "iconic locations" with your head full of all the photos you've seen of it and try to do the same thing only different. Explore. Learn to see things freshly as a child does, with a sense of wonder and then use your photographic skills to capture that sense of wonder. I drive, walk, hike around with my camera and just look, really look at the things around me. When something catches my eye I try to figure out what it was that caught my eye about that particular thing out of all the other things and then I try to record that in my image. If you can do that, your images will be a reflection of your personal view of the world and what others do or how their images look is of no concern..

Jim,

This is very nicely stated and right on the dime, in my opinion.

I also agree with Hank: Look for a different point of view.

Combining the statements from Hank and Jim leades to...think outside the box, and allow your heart to guide you.

--P

Thanks Hank & Jim.

I agree with Preston; both of you offer excellent suggestions.

i think that there are a few things that one can do - as well as the good suggestions by jim and hank.

i use a medium format film camera (with 12 exposures per film) using two fixed length lenses 90% of the time (with a third fixed length lens making the other 10%); i also work almost exclusively in b&w. with this combination, i am forced to look and think - and would be forced to look and think much more if i were using a large format camera (to which I am slowly gravitating). that helps an awful lot. it slows one down. thinking and looking, slowly, makes a big difference to me at least.

further, while we may agree with some or all of the other stan's pet peeves (plus the couple of extras in the comments to his post), avoiding them will bring freshness.

Thanks, Stuart.

I think you've hit on another very good point - taking your time. With digital, especially, we have a tendancy to shoot a little too quickly.

You may have a bit of an advantage over many of us by shooting square format. Could very well make you look a little more closely (I'm guessing). Even though I crop a small percentage of my images into the square format, I can't say that I especially look for them.

Had a peek at your portfolio - some definite WOW images there, for sure.

Tequila. But not any ol' tequila--the real good stuff