Make Your Photography More Authentic

in 1995 Lars von Trier and Thomas winterberg two Danish filmmakers started a movement that would change the filmmaking industry forever you see they were tired of the artificiality and excess of Hollywood Blockbusters and what they wanted to do was create a more raw and authentic cinematic experience in order to achieve this they created a set of strict rules or vows that filmmakers had to follow now these vows were designed to strip away all the fancy special effects big budgets and the the whole Hollywood artifice and get back to just the very basics of Storytelling and they called it Dogma 95 the Dogma 95 movement gained traction very quickly around the world in an inspired filmmakers to make their own uh stripped-down authentic films but the principles of Dogma 95 don't have to stop at filmmaking they can be applied to any art form including photography so that's something that I did and number of years ago I created my own set of rules for the work that I wanted to create and they were simple shoot on location only use one light and have the full body in the photo since most of my work at that time was headshots I wanted photos of people in a place and that was it and I produced a number of images using that Dogma that I love now obviously they don't all meet the short list of criteria that I had but that's not the point the point is to not be so rigid that I can only create one type of image that'd be extremely boring for a portrait photographer for any photographer but rather to give me a mental guide that I could keep in the back of my mind when I'm shooting a session oh yeah I just wanted to use one light on this so now each year I create a new Dogma for myself and that allows me to focus on creating images that I want to work on for my personal work or that I feel I need to fill gaps in my portfolio so you too can create your own your own short list of rules for your photography by doing so you can focus on what's important to you as a photographer and create images that are authentically you and true to your vision of the world that really helps you build your own style as a photographer start by identifying your values as a photographer what kind of work do you like what kind of images do you want to create what values do you want to express what do you want to say about the world maybe you value natural beauty authenticity and experimentation once you've identified your values you can start to create your list of rules or guidelines for your photography now your Dogma can be as strict or as Loose as you like but the great thing about it is that those rules those guidelines are going to reflect your own unique vision of the world because you're the one creating that list you're the one saying these are the guidelines that I'm going to follow when I'm creating work examples of things you you might want to consider creating Dogma around might embody your lighting choices your lens Choice your f-stop you shoot at your medium are you shooting digital analog glass plate the location background elements foreground elements motion Stillness even the way you process and finish your images and retouch your images so for example if you want to explore natural and available Lighting in your images you might create a Dogma that emphasizes shooting only with lighting that is fixed at that location while sconces or or window lights your Dogma could include things like shooting only during golden hour or avoiding flash or or any kind of artificial lighting and you might want to limit your post processing to just basic adjustments like cropping Horizon straightening and color correction now on the other hand if you want to experiment a little more get creative you might add elements that encourage you to try out new techniques or equipment that's new to you push yourself out of your comfort zone maybe try shooting in unfamiliar locations with unfamiliar subjects by following your rules you'll constantly be challenging yourself to grow and improve as a photographer and you'll be able to develop a style that is unique to you and reflects your Creative Vision when you're creating your Dogma it should be personal flexible and adaptable don't be afraid to tweak or adjust your rules as you go along based on what's working and what's not working the point is to use your Dogma as a framework not as a rigid set of rules that limit you and your creativity and and if you have an idea you're like I can't do that because it doesn't fit my Dogma that's not what we want I would love to know if you have any ideas on items that you might include in your dog mate leave a comment below and let me know what those ideas are if you like this video and you found it useful and you want to see more of these videos and and hear more from me please hit the subscribe button turn on the notifications and I'd appreciate it if you like this video and share it with your colleagues that's it for now I appreciate you being here thanks so much take care