Fully Unlock Your Authentic Creative Self (A Guide)

how's it how's it at some point you have been told that the the secret the key to being a more successful creative person is to simply be yourself that so long as you are yourself your own unique voice then everything else will fall into place and that's so easy to say isn't it just be yourself there we go you know but how how do you actually be your own true authentic self as a creative person this is what you're going to discover today is how to actually throw off some of the shackles that are holding you down and unleash your own creative voice inside you because it doesn't come from looking and and minutely dissecting other photographers or other artists and trying to emulate their style completely it doesn't come from looking at tutorials or you know reading books about how to achieve a certain style you ultimately want your photography to be so much like you that you are the biggest and best possible version of yourself that you can possibly be so i say we can shoehorn the word you into that anymore but but that's the point that is the whole essence of this is that you need to not be afraid of being you you need to unleash you and i'm going to show you five simple ways that we can do that and i've now just said five simple ways which is an emulation of somebody else which is which is exactly the point and see how easy it is that it sneaks into our language and into our vocabulary in the way that we the way that we present ourselves to the world without us even knowing about it so the first thing to being the most you that you can possibly be is to stop comparing yourself to other people anybody who you look up to as a mentor do not compare your work to them there's no point in doing it because everybody is marching to the beat of their own job everybody is at different points on their their journeys creatively if you've picked up a camera last week don't compare yourself to somebody who's taking been taking photographs their entire life to have 60 years worth of experience their view of photography and that and their place in the journey is so different and i i appreciate that's probably a piece of advice that you've heard before but it is so important to remember that you cannot compare your beginning with somebody else's middle or somebody else's end one of the major issues with doing this is that when you start comparing yourself to somebody else without seeing the full picture of their journey is that you yourself start to become discouraged that you look at your photography and go oh it's it's not as good it's it's suffering it's lacking in in something and and i wish i could take photographs like so and so because you know they are so much better than me and and that is just it is this heartening thing that you really don't want to be allowing into your creative process by all means pay attention to the work that other people are doing let them inspire you but please please stop comparing yourself to any other person with a camera or a paintbrush or a pencil or a pen or whatever just be in your own moment follow your own journey the second point is to be absolutely authentic it is very easy to fall into the trap of parroting out things that are said or produced to to please other people you know that you you would so echo their opinions or or create photographs that that you know that people will kind of like because it stays within the norm and and that's fine because it's human nature it's human nature to want to be liked and there's nothing wrong with that but if you want to start being your own person to having this own voice you need to be not afraid don't be afraid of speaking out your own opinions of of creating work that that you like and and if it doesn't chime for other people if if what you say doesn't resonate with other people that's okay you can be at a camera club and disagree with some of the judges you can be in a forum and say you know what actually i don't like this photography there is many photos well there are many photographers who i like their work i like the way that they they look but equally there are many photographers who are famous who are well highly regarded within the photo photographic world whose work i don't like i really just don't like it now you know if if i have to say i don't like so and so and such and such then that's an opinion and some people go do you know i like alex because he voices the opinions that don't go the same way that everybody else does and so within your work whatever you do whenever you're talking try and be your own self don't be afraid to say i don't like this or i don't like such as this or i like the other thing the more that you do that the more that you are going back to how you are in the real world where you have opinions where you have you know distinct views on things so allow that distinct view allow those opinions to come into the way that you conduct yourself with your art form within your photography whichever sort of branch of visual arts that you are doing just have an opinion about something there's a line from a film from a few years ago which i think sums up this fantastically which is when you stand for nothing you will fall for anything so have an opinion and and be brave about it so that rather neatly segues into my third point which is to not worry about what other people think about you there is going to be or there are going to be people who do not like your art who when you show them your work are going to go this is not for me and that's okay because we all have in our own worlds things that we like and things we don't like i cannot stand watermelon right so there's number one thing you didn't know about alex right he does not like watermelon but other people think watermelon is great that doesn't mean that i hate everybody who who likes watermelon is just it's just what they like and i like and art is the same you are going to create things that that you enjoy that you love and other people are going to go no do not like it all you need to remember when that happens is to say to yourself fine this is not made for them this is made for me it seems such a simple thing to say but so many so many of us lose sight of who we are creating our art for and ultimately we are creating it for ourselves and the way that we see the world so remember that remember being immune and as easier said than done to the criticism of other people you are your own person and the more that you are your own person and this is you know you can see where this is going we are building up your own unique voice the more that you are going to get people who go i don't particularly like that but that's great because that means that you are on the right track so number four look at that that's not number four that's number three number four i'm gonna do today fingers number four is all about not being too hard on yourself not being a a negative nelly and being so and to your own work i've seen so many people who do this who look at something they create and are are picking it apart i did it myself i used to sit and show people my photography and tell them everything that was wrong with it please please do not do that don't be the person who just says well this is my photograph and this is my answer oh i could have done this i could have done that you're already beating yourself up above about the very thing that you're creating don't be that person right it ruins so much of my the joy from photography for ages because all i would do is talk about my photography in a negative fashion and and and please please for the love of god don't let me hear that you are talking about your work negatively because it shouldn't be negative you can look at it and you can go okay fine i get it there's things i could have done differently there are there are pieces i'm not entirely happy with but don't be hard on yourself for doing that for making those mistakes it's okay everybody makes mistakes and somebody who doesn't tell you that they make a mistake and they're happy 100 with all the art they create is a liar because all of us at some point go i'm not quite happy with that i can change it and that's why we grow that's how we develop as artists as as people speaking with our own voices because we look at our mistakes our missteps and we learn from them we take them for what they are supposed to be which is a learning curve and we go forward with them and become better photographers better artists for it so number five and i got that right this time didn't i that's one two three four five all right again gold star wait right so this is about having fun this is about remembering why you picked up the camera why you picked up the paintbrush why you decided to express yourself creatively in the first place and that's because you enjoyed it there was something about the process or there is something about the process that keeps you going right it is fine to to work in a process it's fine to to work on your creativity and to push yourself but it should also be fun every time it should you should be doing it it should be great fun i look at these games that i used to play online and and there were days where it felt like why am i doing this this just feels like it feels like work and it shouldn't feel like work what you do now is an outlet for yourself it is a way of expressing yourself through your photography and it becomes a chore it becomes hard it becomes work when you are trying to be like somebody else when you are trying on different styles and approaches and processing and following all these tutorials because you are taking all of the coats other people are wearing and you're trying them on one by one one by one and some of them just don't fit and some of them feel a little bit if you kind of roll up the sleeves a bit and you pretend that it fits but ultimately you don't feel comfortable with it and when you're not comfortable with whatever it is that you're doing then that's when you become mired in this idea that it is work because you're having to work at keeping that coat around you in a way that feels comfortable but when you have a coat that is made specifically for you and your voice he says i'm sure it's a mixed metaphor but who knows right then it you don't need to worry it fits like a glove it feels natural on you and this is what we're looking at with your photography and with your art is work that just feels comfortable for you if you catch yourself feeling that you are trying to do something and you're finding a hard work and and that that hard graft continues over weeks and months and you don't feel that you make progress but you just feel that everything is something something is quite some off then that's probably a good clue that whatever you're trying to do isn't necessarily for you it doesn't feel natural for you so listen to those those those voices that that come up from your soul and tell you this isn't quite right so there's a number six little tip which i'm going to share with you because i'm because i'm nice like that because you you spent time watching me so this is a little thank you to you and this is when you are out creating that i would like you to be present in the moment to to so i appreciate that creativity can be an escape from the pressures of the day it can be your release and it needs to be that try and before you pick up a camera before you want to express yourself creatively is to put yourself in the mindset of being creative don't think that the process is going to necessarily get that out of your mind so before you pick up a camera go and do something that just just kind of disconnects the photography from the day you've had so it could be listening to some music maybe if you're driving off somewhere in the car something some music that puts you in a nice sort of mood puts you in a certain place i like to listen to dead can dance it's not the world's most exciting music but it puts me in a mind frame that works for my photography so find ways of just disconnecting yourself from the the real noise that's cluttering up your head so that you can quieten your mind a little bit so that the creative process can wash away and just just you know take away the the rest of that noise and you can be present in your photography in anything that you're creating because that way then you are more in tune with the situation you're not thinking about the world around you and you're just being with your camera being creative listening to your inner voice earlier we looked at learning from our mistakes in photography and i know you were going to find this video about doing just that exceptionally helpful thanks ever so much for being here

Channel: The Photographic Eye

Views: 10,909

Keywords: Photography, photography education, photography ideas, photographer, photography tips, learn photography, how to be yourself, how to be authentic, how to be yourself and not care what others think, how to be authentically yourself

Id: nGEhYIYhrwA

Length: 13min 12sec (792 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 22 2021