changing styles within photography 

I've only been photographing for around 45 years, so I'm still exploring my style :-)

I love photo books. When ever I'm feeling uninspired I just pick one up and within 30 minutes I'm ready to go out and shoot something. Doesn't matter what it is, I just want to make photos

In this episode, Matt Day turns into Matt Night. The slick back hair version who, is a little more edgy, loves top shelf whiskey and, can often be found shouldering two cameras in gun-like leather holsters.

Major take away: SHOOT THE SHOT. It might just spark something completely new. Also, yes to office/lounge tour!

Another reason I deleted my Instagram. Everyone obsessed with a “unified look” to their feed, and they punish you with not liking things in yours that go against the two photos they started following you for... people I followed had literally hundreds of photos that look identical. You want to post a b&w? Oh you *must* create a new account just for that... it’s so bizarre. I get bored, I need to try new things, new focal lengths, new film, color, b&w, people, abstracts, nature... maybe I’m not a true artiste.👨‍🎨 But in general I think a lot of these people are autistic.

It's super important to vary your style. Sometimes weather, location or an all matter of things may bring out something really special. If you're just shooting one particular thing, sure you may get real good at it, but photography is about exploring and being creative, in my mind anyway.

That thumbnail though - get this dude a Peaky Blinders audition! Couch is looking crispy tooo #FTA

I have always said that style is something that happens when you act without thinking too much about it. It's about the gut feeling of "I like this" and "I don't like that" which is at the core of all our creative decisions. With this being said, I am not sure if it is possible to make a conscious decision about one's style.

sweet lord thomas shelby 😍

Subject/Style? Is shooting everything with a Nikon FE2 50mm F2 and Tri - X ( me from 19 to 25) a style or is shooting abandoned buildings in the desert in colour a style using a Toyo view camera, a Blad, a yashica 124g or a Fuji GX680. I think style is what painters have. Photographers are documenters except for the few that really construct the image eg Greg Crewdson.

Always continue to experiment! Experimentation creates inspiration.

my problem that I have is I want to explore every camera out there. I have tried them all. I found out that I am a Utilitarian and shoot the most basic cameras. Film, B&W, Rangefinders.. I buy them broken and fix them myself. 35mm, MF, LF. Love them all. I need to slim down and go with my favorite. Leica... Hasselblad.

Excellent video. I think, like you say, do what feels right; if you are the type to want to explore different styles for different projects then that is cool, but if you want consistency, that can be great to see as well. Just don't feel pressured to be something you're not. More content like this would be great, it's much more YOU than gear reviews which anyone can do. Appreciate you man

Why stick to a style, a film format, film or camera brand .. I'm always shooting in different ways, and have doe for 43 years.

Thanks for this discussion it was really helpful. I watched it twice as I've been struggling with a change in direction for a few months now. I'm kind of burnt out on documentary photography and have been feeling the itch to do landscapes. But it "not being my thing" has definitely gotten in the way a bit as I'm experimenting with a unique system that's a lot larger than I'm accustomed to working with. That stirs up a lot of resistance in me - except when I'm in the field shooting. Still trying to be playful with it and see how my voice makes itself heard in an entirely different medium. Eventually, I'll stop clutching onto what I know and try free swimming a bit.

Great video, and love that blue-green couch as well :)

To beg the differ ... On the path to success/style every one tries out new things, it would be stupid to think that some one would establish a style with his first shot. Let's look at David Lachapelle, a great and very very successful Photographer, famous for his over the top photography and his distinguished style. This was his trade mark and he kept doing it for years and years without changing that style and why would he, it was and still is a major success.

Love your unique content,thanks for sharing what matters...

Great topic and examples Matt. Would enjoy more like this.

man one of the harder's thing is move out of the comfort zone ..I think photography is an extension of your personality ..and if you are not afraid of making change in your life , you wont have problem making change in styles o at less experimenting at the end is always the same question ? are you complete satisfy or you feel like something is missing...why not try. great topic. love the change the your making .

As someone with ADHD I can't help but constantly try something new, else I'd get bored of photography real quick. This has made it a little difficult to produce consistent work, but keeps things fun :)

Refreshing to see content about process starting to appear here. Great video. More like this please.👍

Truly looking like a brother to Nick Carver here.

Love your new kind of videos! Soo much better than gear reviews!

Think this really touches on your previous video about social media. I myself really enjoy seeing the width of other photographers and most of the time I think this "hunt" for consistency mostly are a hindrance to your development. I totally get it if it's for a project or some other kind of work. But settling for one style and one style only are both boring and stagnating. I would hope for folks to show more of their versatility, especially online. Play for god sake, play.

Judging by the title and the thumbnail I really thought you and Nick Carver were doing some photography 'life-swap' challenge hahah

wonderful video that goes with what you wanted to do more and certainly can see this video that will last very long and worth coming back to watch again and again. it was really interesting when trying to do my 10,000 steps to get more healthy and using that to shoot photography - I was having a conversation in my mind about the topic of style. That each day i go out and sometimes the vlogs i want to do, I set different restrictions on myself to keep things focus on what I will shoot or try today. Simple example would be color or black and white, and choosing one or the other will already lead me to have a "different style" base on selecting a scene base on color OR a scene base on contrast of light and shadow. so im just feeling this (old) idea of setting restrictions will lead to having a "style" on its own. I really love to study more photographers who do many styles in their currier, too many times over the years hearing about getting followers on Instagram requires one style, when thats certainly not the case to keep it short and be missing the bigger picture in photography.

Interesting subject, I guess you never know if experimenting is something that works for you until you...experiment. You might find that it feels awkward going out of your comfort zone, some may find exhilarating.

Definitely want to see a video non your new space. It keeps the inspiration of change nice and fresh.

HELP, i rememberd a video review you did on a automated slider when you had the office in the fort collective but cant seem to find it !?

Good advice Matt, its something that has frustrated me a bit lately as I have struggled at times to find new content that is consistent with my favored style near where I live, and I will use that as an excuse to stay at home. But when I get fed up of no camera in hand time and just go out for fun and follow my intuition by shooting what engages me, I often come away surprised at what I have achieved. There is nothing more personal than your own mix of conscious and subconscious ( or instinct ) awareness and we all have a unique story to tell

Thanks Matt, this was really inspiring.

pretty much all I do is experiment

Love the office! What is that paint color on the wall?

Genuinally the greatest hairline I’ve ever see.. holyyy

Love you man, keep doing what you do.

new year, big changes :) keep going...

Photo style, hair style, office style,.......

Yes Matt! Show us more of the office!

this one really hit home with me Matt, thanks

Inspiring Matt...cheers!

Video for sure on the office setup !! ;)

Fresh cut Matt a different bread

Office setup video please :D

Favorite part of the video? New haircut*

Definitely do one on the new studio!

We want a set-up video!!!

Okay Matt, I see you with the fresh cut!

yeah we need a video on the set up

So hyped about the upcoming Mark Steinmetz vid! He’s one of my favs👌

Whew! 74th! Anyways, it's awesome seeing different styles from photographers. It's like getting a new album from your favourite band. You may love it; you may hate it. But that's getting into a whole different conversation about how artists growth doesn't necessarily match what their old audience wants, etc. This is getting long... Great video, dude!

I loved this video, it made me want to explore more published photography. It made me want to see the inside of the books you were showing. As I am a complete pleb, you have shown me a new way to view photography. Many thanks.

Great to see diff styles .

Man, this x100. I've been shooting for a very long time, but haven't shot film in a couple decades, so I started shooting film last year again and it just feels damn good. Different film cameras and lenses keep me thinking differently. Also, I feel it's OK for photographers to stay on their path, but I'm having a great time recrafting my style and recommend it to every person who shoots. Something might be learned, right?

Love that hairstyle dude 😉 Alec Soth talked about patience and work constantly to get your own voice, and that's a looong way.

Thanks Matt, love the varieties you showed and how one person proceeds in their photographic life. Experimenting is what I love: Pentax 67, 645, K-01, Q, LX, 110 to Canon D80, AE-1 and even Olympus PenEE-s half frame 35mm. With Leica on the horizon.....

I think both exploring your style and sticking to just one style can be productive. Alan Schaller comes to mind. I really like his work. He mentions “forcing” himself to only shoot B&W.

This was awesome to hear thank you Matt. Have always used 35mm colour as my main medium and sometimes I feel thats defined my "style". But since graduating college each project I've started has been shot entirely differently. Digital with flash and telephoto/long lenses around my hometown. Colour 6x7 in beachtowns along the great lake's. Black & white 6x7 in the suburbs. Was worried the lack of consistency would hurt my overall portfolio but I think there's just way too much we can do with a camera to limit yourself (in my case at least, I know a lot of great photographers who excell with a 35mm lens and hp5 all day). But since every place and subject is different in its own way, I've never wanted to lock myself in to just one defined way of shooting

Lounge tour lets go

Matt like the hair cut, and hell yeah we wanna an office tour. I just picked up Sleeping By the Mississippi, and I've been loving it. Living in San Diego I normally do portraits. I recently went home to Mississippi for a few months to take a break, and shot some of my favorite photos, and other than family none of the photos were portraits. If y'all wanna see some of my work @shotwithchris is my IG.

Good talk, pops!

I agree! My favorite example is Cape Light by Joel Meyerowitz. Large Format work done over one summer that couldn’t be more different than the 35mm NYC street photography that he is known for.

Words of wisdom not to be lost... Ironically just this morning I went into work super early (6AM) and shortly found myself standing outside watching the sunrise over the Tucson airport. I took a couple of typical sunrise shots with silhouetted aircraft. But then I noticed the frost on my cars glass roof panels starting to pick up the suns warm orange light. At first glance you really can’t tell what it is, but after a moment it becomes clear... Something different for me, but enjoyable so thank you Matt for your words of wisdom.

What an excellent topic! I have struggled with “defining my style” I’m kinda all over the place, portraits, family, candids, sprinkle some landscape.. Sometimes I feel like a fraud for even trying to do something I’m not so great at? But TF with it! I enjoy photography period! And I’m gonna do ME! Thank you for the inspiration Matt.. that haircut tho! Def your style! Looks good 👌🏼

Hey Matt! I've been watching your videos for some months now, and i find these type of videos the most interesting to watch by far. On a previous video about your plans for 2021 you mentioned the film camera review videos and i couldn't agree more, i'm shooting since late 2018 and the videos i find the most appealing are these, where the photographers share their knowledge and insight, not on cameras but on their approach to photography and life in general, i hear that we should stick to one specific "style" of image in order to create a "signature look" for ourselves a lot, but while doing photography i never felt the need to do so, unless working on a project with many pictures on it, i just feel like every scene and person that we shoot give different energies, not everyone is the same, therefore we should emphasize the original image energy with our media format, and not the other way around trying to stamp our "signature look" on something that isn't meant to take it. So like you said, we end up shooting more, and become more diverse in our work, and more interested about various subjects and don't only stick to one. I'm really happy you made this video because just two days ago i had a conversation about this with a friend of mine, and it's always nice to see a quality youtuber such as yourself thinking about this aswell! Best Regards mate!

I’m just getting into buying photo books so I’m looking forward to more of your recommendations. If you could maybe show the pictures just a little longer; that would be nice to be able to appreciate them while you talk. Great work sir.

I love that you made this video. I’ve struggled so much with finding a “style” because I feel so boxed-in. I love experimenting and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I started shooting in series to address this and it feels great. I can do a similar theme and look per series, but I can still shoot different styles if I want. I love all forms of photography and don’t want to limit myself to one style. Thank you so much for this.

Some great points here Matt. Love how excited you are about Mark Steinmetz’ work, looking forward to that video!

dig this format.

Interesting that these photographers keep to something consistent *within* a project, and then change for the next one. It's almost as if the style belongs to the project rather than the photographer per se - like an actor getting into a role. This was useful Matt, thank you.

I love how you have a video on changing up your style all while filming from a newly set up space. Love the look, the lighting and color.

great video Matt! As someone who has also limited themselves to 'styles' or got into my head that maybe that's wrong for me to try, this is really helpful. I'm still learning and practicing photography, so trying may different styles and ideas will help hone what it is I like and one day become my style. Thanks :)

Great thoughts on photography styles, liking the lounge style office .

love

🖤

I love this new office setup! It would be great to see a video on the setup.

I find that whatever medium I use defines the style ... instant is different than medium format and nothing is like large format ... I just hope that collectively my stuff is recognizable as mine!!!

People contain multitudes and there's room for a variety of stylistic approaches based on what the work or the artist needs at the time. What's consistent is the person behind the camera, and that consistency usually shows through. I know that's true of my work even though I sometimes feel I'm all over the place.

BRB going to add all these books To my wish list lol

so cool video thxs & also love the little set of the office!

Loving the hair man and another solid video

More books - Thanks Matt!

New office, a fresh cut , new content, but the same ol' Matt Day we love, and keep coming back for. The last few videos content wise, show for a very promising future with direction in which this channel is headed, and I'm all for it!

Thanks again Matt.

I got a bit tired hearing that we’re supposed to stay consistent in a style to be successful ...i think it’s missing the whole point of being an artist like if you want to be consistent get a normal job ... nothing wrong with being consistent if it’s a personal preference as you mentioned. Great topic and a great exemples ! Cheers !

This setup is crispy