365:197 PER BIRKHAUG

I've been thinking a bit about style and creativity lately. Some photographers, online and otherwise, encourage beginners to "find their own style". Admittedly, others don't, but I've been thinking a bit about this style topic. Frankly, I'm not quite sure what it means. And I've been thinking about the pictures I take, and post-process in Lightroom and Photoshop - do they have a particular style? I don't think they do. I think they are very diverse when it comes to style, whatever that might be and I've had this idea that sticking to a particular style might hamper creativity. Not sure that's my idea though, might be something I've picked up; can't remember where or from whom. Anyways, I myself tend to photograph mostly landscape and nature. But every so often I get an idea, either by myself, or I get some inspiration from seeing other people’s work. Enclosed is a photo that I got the idea to myself (I think). My wife got a pre-Christmas present of what's supposed to be a ‘star’ - kind of decoration with light to hang in a window. I got the idea to make something of it, photographically. So I took a rather close-up shot, put it in Lightroom, converted it to black and white, sent it over to Photoshop, did some luminosity masking and adjustments, and exported it as a jpg. Quite satisfied with it, but not entirely. A week went by, and I looked at it again, and suddenly got the idea to turn it 90 degrees. And there it looked like something out of a Fritz Lang movie! I think at least. Is it typical of my style? No, I don't think so, since I don't think I have a style. But thanks to curiosity (always comes in handy), I think it's quite creative. And maybe suitable for the 365 community? ;-)

For more of Per’s work, see his Instagram.