Unveiling Authenticity: The Creative Evolution of Style and Voice
Style is external; voice is internal. Throughout our lives, our style evolves and changes. Some of us try new things and are not set in stone. But our voice, our point of view of the world and how we see it, doesn't change as easily. Your voice is you; it's powerful and can become timeless.
I used to be obsessed with finding my style, giving myself rules and limitations to force a visual style. This worked very well, and I achieved what I set out to do. On reflection, over the past decade. I realized that having a style is great for the gallery wall and for marketing. Whereas a voice is more powerful, giving your work weight and the power to make it timeless. Unlike a style that can go in and out of fashion. A voice gives meaning to your work, a purpose, and a reason for people to care.
As photographers and artists, we all go through the same steps: finding our preferred medium. Then obsessing about technical aspects, gear, and the skills needed. This step is necessary but also very boring and mundane to talk about when you have moved on from this step in your career. Then, after gear obsession comes finding your voice, your style, who we are, and how to create and present yourself. For myself, this came from a desperation to be different. Insecurity about who I was, and forcing something that, in hindsight, would have come naturally over time anyway.
I'm not sure if this is the final step or just another one towards mastery of oneself and craft. I'm at the 'why' phase, the story, the meaning of the work. What am I trying to say? Why is this important? Why should anyone care? This will take a lifetime to figure out because I'm sure it changes as we do. The struggle to find stories and meaning in the world and to share those thoughts and stories through our craft.
Which brings me back to the beginning. Style is external; voice is internal. I feel like I'm overthinking this, and if the younger child in me would have just said something like. "Just say what you want, be yourself,.' Letting the stories tell themselves through your own experience of them. Which is so true, but the next thing, the harder thing to answer is, what stories do I tell? What do I care about? What is important enough to me that I have to share it with the world? When you find that, that's when you find stories worth sharing. With the voice you always had. In a style that is your default way of representing your experiences in your medium of choice.
