Brian Keith Moody Photo wrote:
30 years ago during my time in the NYU film school, I was a reader at a literary agency.  The job was to read submitted screenplays and evaluate them.  99 percent of what we read, we’d pass on.  Not necessarily because they were bad but because they were bland.  They all seemed to hit the marks the screenwriting books told them to hit (this has to happen by this page, that has to happen by that page) but as a result they were all pretty derivative and predictable.  They all had a certain sameness to them.

Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino once remarked that his screenplays would never make it past a studio reader because they don’t fit the “rules” of screenwriting.

Now what does this have to do with photography?  All creative endeavors have their so called “rules” and “guidelines.” The question is are the rules, guidelines and supposed tos killing your creativity?

I'll be the first to admit that there is a certain sameness and blandness to my work that I am trying to figure out how to escape.  I really need to think more outside the box.

I disagree with the basic assumptions in this post.

Yep, lots of same-old, same-old in many different creative endeavors.  But for TV and Movies in particular, it's not about creativity (in fact, for those fields, it has almost nothing to do with creativity), it's about "what sells" and marketability.  Right now, we see endless followups (Batman?  Superheroes?  Zombies?) b/c once upon a time a book or movie on that subject sold well so the studios will milk it until it comes up dry.  Got nothing to do with creativity.

As far as "rules" for photography, if you make a comprehensive list of rules when it comes to what makes a good photograph, you'll find that they start contradicting.  You see, part of what makes photography an "art" rather than a craft is that it requires judgment...do you put in a visually pleasing backdrop your go with negative space?  Do you make the photo in focus or intentionally allow blur to convey movement?  Do you go with color to emphasize vibrancy or B&W to emphasize form and lines?  Shoot in studio and go heavy post-production to create a slick look with the model or do you go with ambient light, minimal makeup and seek to create a more natural feel to the shot?

If you find that you're in a creative rut as a photographer, that isn't about the rules of composition or what makes an effective photograph.

--Ed