Male vs Female Inspiration

photo credits: orbeq, jnsilva, samalive, anthonyn1cholas

One day I realized I follow a lot of women photographers on Instagram. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but what is up with that?

I was following a few guys, my son (hardly posts), a few young guys from church (my friends’ sons), my nephew…ok you get the picture.

Then one day, I’m not sure how, I stumbled upon some aerial shots of NYC. Man, they were awesome, I love NY, used to live there. They were shot by jnsilva . Then you know how things cascade, you start looking through someone's stream, and that leads you to someone tagged (samalive) or someone who commented (anthonyn1cholas) , and pretty soon you forgot you had water boiling for pasta and the pot is half empty and you’re thinking “wait, what day is it, and when did I last let the dogs out?” Or is that just me? ;)

Anyway, the guys I found and continue to find and their amazing pics were making me think about the difference in how men and women see & edit what they photograph. I started to see that sometimes there was a very different, rad world that men were photographing. Other times, was it that much different than some of the women I follow?

I began to notice that the guys’ shots appear to contain more contrast, or maybe it’s just what they photograph. They seem to, and this is probably key, “chase the harsh light” amazingly well! There’s even a IG hashtag for it #chasingharshlight. I’m not sure I have ever had that in mind when setting out to shoot!

The men also seem to prefer sharper more detailed shots, that are symmetrical, often times with their subject smack dab in the middle or lines leading to the center and/or disappearing.

*Sigh* so much inspiration, so not enough time (hours in the day, summer, free, or golden) I’ve been trying to remember when out shooting to experiment with what I am learning from these guys. These last two shots are mine. 

Share with us who you follow on IG that inspires you to think outside of your usual shooting style? Or show us how you've been pushing out of your envelop style to gain some different insight or creative mojo?

Some guys more to check out:

wrongrob

orbeq

scottborrero

littlecoal

andrewjasonleung

jmetheridge