Photography 101: Change Your Perspective for More Creativity and Fun

Stephen F. Dennstedt

Are you in a rut with your photography? I think it happens to all of at one time or another. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you’ve become comfortable or complacent with your shooting style. Boring, however, is not good.

Boring is, well, boring. Boring can rob your life of its spark, enthusiasm and creativity. Comfort can foster confidence but boring often spawns frustration and dissatisfaction. I’m easily bored and it sucks (no one likes to be bored).

Photography can be a metaphor for life—to change your view on life simply change your perspective or in photography terms your focal length. However, it’s easier to change a physical lens on a camera than it is to change a mental or emotional attitude. The result can be the same (metaphorically speaking): you can begin to see life in a new and different way (through a different lens). Change though often difficult is usually a good thing—we should learn to embrace change and not to shun it. Just because it can be difficult doesn’t mean it’s an automatically bad thing.

Saint Peter’s Church – Dublin, Ireland (1/50s @ f/8 ISO 100 @ 20mm)

Resistance to change is fear-based. Humans are creatures of habit and routine—we want to control what happens next. When we lack control (or perceive that we do) we become anxious and fearful: OMG what’s going to happen next and will I be able to handle it (it’s a survival mechanism)? This autonomic nervous response to change is deep-seated in our primitive reptilian brain (in our brain stem)—it’s a survival instinct like our fight or flight syndrome. Hardwired into our human DNA is the instinct for survival in all its forms. We are physiologically preprogrammed to behave in certain ways.

Clifden Castle Ruins – Clifden, County Galway – Ireland (1/50s @ f/11 ISO 100 @ 16mm)

By the same token humans are also programmed for exploration and learning. We quickly tire of the status quo even though we are reluctant to change it and often set events in motion (knowingly or unknowingly) to shake things up. Like I mentioned earlier I am easily bored. I love learning and exploration but once I’ve mastered a task or achieved a goal (and celebrated the fact) I long for something new: a new experience, a new achievement. It’s that quest for knowledge and desire for change that continues to drive the human species forward.

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before – Star Trek

Photography is no different for me. Once I master a camera, lens or technique I’m ready for the next experience. That’s why travel is so good for me, it keeps me on the move and active and continually exposes me to new and undreamed of experiences. I need that stimulation in my life to keep what sanity I have left. The pattern in my personal (and professional) life is: routine > comfort > complacency > boredom > depression > rebellion. When I get bored and depressed I push back and strike out in new directions—it took me a lifetime to see the pattern.

Christ Church – Clifden, County Galway – Ireland (1/160s @ f/8 ISO 100 @ 17mm)

Today I understand what makes me tick and I revel in the process. I am now proactive instead of reactive and it makes all the difference in the world. I can see the train wreck that is coming my way and take steps to keep the train on the tracks as it swiftly changes directions to avoid a collision and catastrophe. I’ve changed the perspective of my psyche just as a different lens changes the focal length (and perspective) of my camera. Today I’m having fun with my ultra wide-angle zoom lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM. As with my photography I am also trying to view my life through a wider perspective.

Field Notes: I took the photos on this page with my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV full-frame DSLR and Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM ultra wide-angle zoom lens. This is a relatively new lens for me and I’m really enjoying it. I mentioned in this article that getting a new and different perspective on life is import and I find the same thing is true in photography. This lens is forcing me to see and approach subjects in a different way—not necessarily a better way just a different way. And change is good, it helps to keep my vision (even with my tired old eyes) fresh and inquisitive. SFD