Is That Really a Photograph?

"Is that a photograph?...Nah, can't be... Wait..What is it?"

I love to hear questions like that when people see my wall art photographs.  It means I've achieved my aim of creating something that makes people stop, look and engage with the work. In this era of quick flicking through social media images, it takes something different to cause someone to stop and actively engage with the art. And if people engage and like what they see, well, they may buy it or ask me to teach them how to do the same.  
So how to stand out from the crowd? One way is to shoot something no-one else has, but there are literally billions of photos taken every day so a truly unique subject is hard to find.  And that is especially true here in the Geelong and Surf Coast areas where we are blessed with thousands of photographers visiting daily.  Instead we have to find unique ways of photographing subjects that have been done before. With landscapes, one option is to try a different perspective. Aerial photography has been around for as long as we've had planes, but it has had a real upsurge more recently with the arrival of drones. Drones are limited by the legal height they can fly, as well as the quality and size of the image files they make. So to make my aerial photos different, I shoot from a plane or helicopter at a height that lets me create abstracts of the land below - and I use a high resolution camera that lets me print large - just like the wall art photo here.
And, with a bit of creativity, there are ways of taking "aerial" shots on the ground. I have aerials taken around Torquay and the Great Ocean Road that  I've shot from a height of about 160cm (yes - that's about where my eye is when I'm standing!)

Not everyone is into landscapes, or can hire a plane, but everyone does have their own way of looking at the world and interacting with it. Find your own perspective, and let it drive your photography and you will develop your own unique style and approach to stand out from those billion other photos!