Themes
will save your life! –
Your photographic life, that is. Ever run out of creative steam? You won’t, ever, if you work with themes.
Why themes? Well, when I was a photographer in New York City, the photo editor of a major magazine gave me
this sagely advice, “Anything documented well, will someday sell.” That made sense to me, so I set about documenting
things well, which, of course, necessitated a number of images of the same topic… or theme.
It worked, both financially and creatively. Whenever I fell my creative steam ebb, I resort to a theme, and then I’m back up to speed with renewed creative vigor. Below is one of my themes… photographing people on their mobile phone.
People talking on mobile phones are quite oblivious to the world around them. As such, they often make silly human
gestures when using conventional phones in the privacy of their home or office. Now, these funny gestures are public
and a good subject for a candid theme, which capture’s the human condition and sometimes, quite humorously.
Compile a series of interesting themes and present a print show, or a portfolio for a magazine editor, or a calendar,
or a book or... use your imagination.
Weekly
photo tips are provided by Larry Frank – photographer, traveller, presenter,
Photoshop instructor, digital retouch artist.