There are a couple of photographers that I observe whose type is so identifiable that, when their work comes up on my feed, I can guess who the artist behind the digicam was earlier than glancing on the title. Marina Williams is a kind of photographers.
Marina Williams is a artistic portrait photographer whose work is usually characterised by shiny colours, hanging shapes and purposeful posing. Along with being a artistic portrait photographer, Williams can also be a photograph educator with each a web based neighborhood and in-person occasions.
I had the prospect to catch a part of considered one of her shows earlier this summer time at a pictures expo in New York City, and one of many issues that she mentioned about discovering her personal type has stayed with me ever since.
Williams stood in entrance of the group with a few of her earliest work and a few of her most up-to-date portfolio photographs on the display screen when she defined one of many key adjustments that helped her to outline her personal type.
“Back then, there was no thought behind the creative direction of the shoot – the styling, the colors or the poses,” she mentioned. “I was really just letting the location do all the work. I was excited to be in this gorgeous location… there was no thought behind anything else.”
“Now, all of my images are so much more interesting because I am the one doing all the work, not the location,” she mentioned. “Everything is planned intentionally, from the colors to the style to the pose, and there’s more of an overall story being told.”
Williams’ remarks have caught with me ever since as a result of I, too, am generally responsible of discovering a lovely location and never searching for inspiration wherever in addition to what I can see in entrance of me at a shoot.
Finding inspiration from a location isn’t essentially fallacious – and Williams will nonetheless discover inspiration in places, from driving by a tree in bloom or exploring a brand new neighborhood. But taking that preliminary inspiration and leveling it up with intentional planning, artistic props and storytelling is what helped Williams transfer from her early images to her now simply identifiable type.
Inspiration, together with intentional styling, helped Williams outline her type. But to search out inspiration that felt true to herself, she checked out all the things from her love of scrapbooking and style to the artwork and flicks she loves.
“When you’re having bother arising with concepts, it’s very easy to only open up Instagram or Pinterest and start scrolling to look for inspiration… But in order to stay true to what makes your art and brand unique, my advice is to find inspiration in other art forms,” she said.
“When you do, you are more likely to create something new that resonates with who you are and is going to resonate with how you are as a photographer.”
Beyond her love for fashion and music, Williams also finds inspiration in art forms outside photography, from paintings to architecture and sculpture. “Take the themes, and how it makes you feel, and try to apply it to your own work. You can replicate the themes and feelings without directly replicating it,” Williams said.
When she stopped looking exclusively to the landscape for inspiration, Williams also found inspiration in anything from a cheap plastic sheeting from a hardware store to the shapes on a dress.
While changing how she finds inspiration is a big part of William’s now-identifiable style, it’s one of several changes the photographer made to help define her own work. Williams started out shooting multiple genres before she spent a year working as an in-house photographer for a children’s clothing brand.
She quit her full-time job to run her photography business full-time – and then COVID postponed or cancelled all of her shoots. That’s when the Florida native started taking self-portraits. Sharing those shoots on TikTok helped Williams find her community and eventually build her education platform, Made to Make.
Williams, a Canon Explorer of Light, continues to share insight and advice on TikTok and Instagram.
Marina William’s favourite picture gear
William’s favourite gear consists of the Canon EOS R5 Mark II, the G7X Mark III for travel, and the R50 V for vlogging.