Creative Artistic Photos: How to Find Purpose and Meaning
Artistic photos like this view over Ilulissat, Greenland are fun to make.
The journey to create more artistic photos is full of technical and creative challenges. But along that road, the photos you create will enable you to build a more purpose driven, meaning rich life.
Making artistic photos helps you live a more creative life, enabling you to find purpose and meaning through immersion in the art of creative photography. The result of your endeavors will flow on to a happier and more authentic life.
As a result you’ll learn to be more patient of your own shortcomings and more forgiving of your failures.
Ultimately, we achieve success through our failures. It’s only when we refuse to recognize, and act upon, the lessons learned that our failures become habitual.
Creativity, by its very nature, is intuitive, embracing spontaneity and a reasonable degree of risk.
Rather than locking you into any one formal practice or workflow, creativity will help you in the following ways:
Encourage you to try new things
Enjoy different approaches and ways of thinking, without prejudice or judgement
Enhance your life through the richness of the experience
For my part, I enjoy all kinds of photography, but I’m particularly interested in images that explore the following:
Narrative (story telling), particularly that dealing with the human condition
Composition
Symbolism
Metaphor
“Art is not so much about looking. It’s about seeing.”
The above photo was made near the end of a long overnight walk, under the midnight sun, along the edge of the spectacular Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland.
I made the photo, from a hilltop, looking down on the town of Ilulissat and across a small part of the massive Ilulissat Icefjord.
The image documents housing in Ilulissat, and points to life on the edge of the wilderness in the remote Arctic.
It’s an other-worldly image that suggests an existence posed between two worlds: the idyllic, pristine wilderness surrounding the town; and, what some might consider, the hellish constraints of government induced conformity.
I love the bold colors in these buildings, but wonder what life is like for the locals who live there.
No doubt this lego-like government housing serves a purpose, to shelter the less fortunate.
But it also speaks to me of the corralling of indigenous Inuit folk into a more homogenized modern existence.
I don’t mean to downplay or diminish the governments intentions to provide decent accommodation for the local Inuit community working in fishing, tourism and services sectors in Ilulissat and other urban centers throughout Greenland.
My research suggests that these large, multi-storied housing blocks offer secure and centrally heated housing for local residents. That’s to be applauded.
But I do hope that, in the years to come, greater prosperity will allow indigenous Greenlanders to enjoy the benefits associated with more independent living.
So far, I’ve only traveled to Greenland on one occasion.
But I’m really looking forward to my next adventure when, in addition to exploring more of the landscapes around Ilulissat, I plan to visit more towns and settlements around this remarkable country.
Artistic Photos Teach You How To See
To find purpose by pursuing creative travel photography, we first need to see the world anew.
To do so we first need to look, beyond mere surface appearances, to discover new options, possibilities and realities that will lead to a deeper level of understanding beyond our normal, everyday experience.
What I’m referring to is a magical place, existing between the known and the unknown, between fact and mystery.
It's the world akin to that of the alchemist, and it’s a wonderful place in which your most artistic photos will be created.
This is where your authentic nature resides, and where you’ll find purpose and meaning in your life.
Find purpose creating artistic photos, like this mist shrouded landscape on Huangshan.
Artistic Photos and The Search For Style
This photo of a young, local tourist on Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province, China is quite unique. It’s a moment in time that few other photographers would have been able to create.
Why? Because I turned my camera in the opposite direction to where the action was. I just knew something was about to happen, so I trusted my intuition and was rewHuangshan Mountainarded with this ethereal image.
I composed the image and waited, just for a moment, for this seemingly transient being to appear out of the mist.
One frame was all I got and all I needed. Then she was gone.
The image is unique and it came out of, what was then, 30 years of photography and a wealth of associated experiences, both exciting and tedious, along the way.
People have asked me if this photo showcases a photo style that’s typical of my work.
I suppose it is, but I find the whole discussion about style to be quite a distraction for aspiring photographers.
Frankly, I wouldn’t be overly concerned with the need to search for your own photo style.
Doing so has become a bit of a crusade for some folks but, when it comes to creating artistic photos, it’s not the Holy Grail.
As I say, the search for style is, to my mind, largely a distraction.
It’s the reason why you see folks buying presets in the hope that their photos will look like those made by another photographer, often someone with a degree of celebrity in the industry.
While a preset can make sense, from a workflow point of view, and also to achieve a certain look or feel in your images, spending $9:95 simply will not make your photos the same as someone else’s.
What’s more, you’d be much better off cultivating your own creativity, rather than trying to copy someone else’s by adopting a little of what they do into your own workflow.
And, in the case of particularly artistic photos, that’s of critical importance when you don’t understand why it is they do what they do.
“The artist’s journey is one of self discovery”
If you’re looking to find purpose through the creation of artistic photos, then I applaud you.
But, please, don’t worry. Over time, and with enough work and critical thinking, your own photographic style will emerge.
Just remember that creativity, by it’s very nature, comes about organically. Trying to shortcut the process defeats the whole purpose and, inevitably, the results produced will lack authenticity.
So much of what people refer to as style is concerned with how your images look. Given that, I believe it’s a secondary concern to your own, individual identity as a creative being.
Stylistic concerns relate to surface impressions and to how it is that you produce the work you do.
What I’m more interested in is the true, unique and authentic nature of the artist.
How it is that a photographer takes and post processes photos is relevant. But why it is they do so is, to my mind, far more important.
And to grasp that, you need to better understand their own creative journey, their character and their worldview.
Self discovery and the tree of life in the Hamilton Botanical Gardens.
Find Purpose: Self Discovery and The Tree Of Life
Ultimately, the artist’s way is a search for identity. And it’s through our own, individual journey of self discovery that we’ll find purpose and meaning in our lives.
Your own, unique nature will emerge more quickly through a critical (and I don’t mean negative) examination of the photos you make.
The three critical questions you need to ask yourself are as follows:
What do you love to photograph?
Why do you love to make those photos?
What is there about how you make those photos that sets them and, by extension, you apart?
Please take the time to separate your very best photos from the rest you’ve made.
Actually, I use Adobe Lightroom for this task and I wrote a post titled How to Rate Photos in Lightroom that explains exactly how I do it.
Once you’ve sorted your photos, ideally via the star rating system in Lightroom, take a closer look at the best of the best and, with an open mind, listen to what they have to say to you.
“Your best photos will tell you what you’re about and, ultimately, who you are.”
This lovely, leafy green image was made in the Botanical Gardens in my hometown, Hamilton, a small regional town in Australia.
I made the photo on my birthday. It’s very much an image of self discovery and renewal, as I spent quite a bit of time in these gardens during my late teens and early twenties.
As our best photos come from the heart, they also represent a kind of homecoming.
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Here’s the private photography course that’s specially designed around your needs, your camera and the photos you most want to create.
Once you know what you’re about and what it is you need to photograph to satisfy your hearts desire, you need a way forward to make it a reality.
Perhaps it’s time you got the basics sorted.
Are you comfortable with your camera and/or post processing skills?
If not, then you need to take some action quickly, before your motivation disappears. Needless to say, the clock’s ticking.
It’s amazing what a little structure and expert guidance can do to set you on the path to creating more artistic photos and, thereby, find purpose in your life.
I’m able and happy to share that knowledge so that it saves you the time and trouble of working it out for yourself.
I’m a very experienced travel photographer and photography tutor and I’d be happy to help you out on your own, individual creative journey.
About To Travel?
Separation and Connection: Find Purpose Through Creativity
Once you’re on the path to creativity it’s simply a matter of making more artistic photos, more often.
To stay focused on what you do best it’s important to continually separate yourself from your least successful work and keep concentrating on your very best photos.
Once again, I use Adobe Lightroom to rate my photos, and then hide the least successful images so that I can concentrate my attention on my very best photos.
Once you’re looking at your very best photos, it’s far easier to let your images speak to you. They will tell you what you’re good at and what you need to improve to progress as a photographer and as an artist.
This photo of a colorful window and wall in the LaBoca neighborhood of Buenos Aires is a good example of the notion of separation and connection.
As you can see it’s quite an artistic photo, with elements in and around the window highly organized and visually connected to each other.
Take the three pots, which are organized to form a triangle. That triangle has become a powerful shape underpinning the composition in this photo.
Likewise, the bright, yellow shutters and window frame act as a frame within a frame in the photo.
Now notice how the iron bars in front of the window act to separate it from the surrounding wall and, by extension, the outside world.
It’s a good example of the use of symbolism and metaphor in photography.
So, in addition to the vibrant colors and composition within this image, it’s that use of symbolism and metaphor that make this one of the more artistic photos I made during that particular photo walk.
Artistic photo exploring the often facile nature of fashion and celebrity.
Your Creative Life And the Artistic Photos you Make
By all means have fun making snaps and practice composition with your mobile phone but, when it comes to serious photography, you’ll likely find purpose through a more structured approach.
Take a look at this night photo made in Shanghai, China. It was a very tricky image to make as it’s highly structured and based largely around very exacting composition.
Visually, that’s a critical factor to the success of the picture because it’s the composition that draws the eye and, as a result, encourages a deeper investigation as to what the photo is about.
From my point of view it’s an image that explores the often facile nature of fashion and celebrity.
That’s why I consider this to be one of my more artistic photos.
The composition underpinning the image was deliberate, highly conceived and required precise adjustments to lens and tripod to achieve.
The image, while visually interesting, does mean something to me. And I’ve been able to express that meaning through the incorporation of metaphor into the photo.
Find Purpose Through The Artist’s Way
The journey to find purpose in your life through the production of ever more creative and artistic photos sounds grand.
But how on earth are you going to get there?
Well, it helps to have a plan.
Start to plan photo walks and local adventures, not so much around the destination, but around the type of photos you want to make.
Edit those photos down to your very best images and begin to sequence them into harmonious collections for exhibiting, showcasing and sharing with the world.
Perhaps you don’t see yourself exhibiting or making photo books. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of other options.
A website, Instagram gallery or a structured approach to posting on social media is a totally legitimate way to find purpose by sharing your work and, over time, cultivating an audience for your most artistic photos.
But whatever you do, you’ll feel better about it if you do it as well as you can.
Having a more strategic approach to what you post online, and the order in which you do so, is a good start.
Try organizing the images you post so that they present a more cohesive stream of photos.
Doing so will help you find purpose in what you do.
The way you do things is actually very important to the brand you build. And all creative photographers, fine art and commercial alike, should think seriously about the brand they create.
Have no doubt that your brand is central to your identity as a creative soul.
However, why you may well be haphazard and spontaneous in life, you probably don’t want to go about building your brand on social media in the same way.
I just don’t think the algorithms are smart enough to reward you for that kind of approach.
This is a great example that, even as creative beings, we need to adapt to more of a left brain, logical approach when it comes to how we organize and share our photos with the world via social media.
Tegallalang Rice Terrace, Bali suggests how to cultivate a more creative life.
How To Cultivate A More Creative Life
I loved making this image showcasing the Tegallalang Rice Terrace in Bali, Indonesia promotes the need to find purpose by cultivating a more creative life.
The photo features an idyllic landscape that’s been, quite literally, carved out of the earth and cultivated with great care and attention to detail.
Invest the same level of care in your own creativity and you’ll well and truly find purpose, living the life you were meant to live.
The good news is that you don’t have to dwell in a garret to do so.
And that’s true whether you’re a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker.
It’s not so much what you do, but how you go about doing it that matters.
But it’s going to be so much easier to find purpose and meaning in your work life when you make time to explore your own creativity.
It’s taken me many years to establish processes and workflows that enable me to progress along my own, unique creative path.
And I wish you the same creative growth as you embark on your own journey making artistic photos.
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