7 Easy Photography Genres That Anyone Can Do!
I love the fact that there are so many genres of photography. The diversity is what makes our craft so enjoyable. I’ve dabbled in many genres of photography, but it’s street photography where I feel most at home. I’ve also got friends and peers from various backgrounds in the photographic field. With that said, we will look at which are the easiest genres to practice, all of which anyone can do!
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Other People’s Art Photography
“Oh yeah, I’m a photographer,” said Steve. “Really? I’d love to see your photographs,” replied Paul. Steve then pulls out his phone and shows Paul hundreds of photos he took of graffiti, paintings, and other pieces of other people’s artwork. “Seems like you’re just taking photos of people’s artwork, hardly makes you a photographer,” Paul says to Steve. Steve cries into his Leica and walks home. Easy stuff!
Headshot Photography
Let’s be honest. Headshots are easy. You flick a switch on a $200 light, ask Jenny to smile, and hit the shutter button. Hardly rocket science, is it? Sure, you may have to deal with a few blinkers and take the shot again, but it’s far from tasking. Anyway, we all know the corporate headshot photographer is the poor person’s high-end fashion portrait photographer, right?
Celeb Photography
All my paparazzi friends reading this: YOUR JOB IS EASY. Honestly, standing outside a restaurant until 2 am to make poorly composed images with a flash that overexposes your frame of someone famous for wearing lipgloss isn’t even a job.
Minimalist
If you don’t know what minimalist photography is, allow me to explain. It’s a type of photography where the photographer can’t make an interesting frame, so they make a picture of a plant right of center of a wall and call it “abstract” instead. In a desperate attempt to give their “minimalist” image some credibility, they write a caption: “This image represents the emptiness in my heart, the plant, a physical representation of my hope.”
Half-Assed Documentary Style
Firstly, when done well, documentary photography isn’t easy. But only a few hit the dizzy heights of amazing work. For the most part, documentary photographers are all like Abigail. What Abigail did was make pictures of her vegan friend kissing a couple of trees. She then went on Wikipedia and copied some text about saving the planet and how eating lambs is very bad (lovers of the grilled minted lamb burger are sure to disagree). Abigail then tells everyone she is a deep thinker and her photographs will drive change. They won’t, Abigail.
Photos of Food
“To photograph food, and make it look delicious and appealing to the consumer is an art within itself.” Give me a break. It’s the chef that did the hard work. All you did was place the food next to a window, put it on a wooden surface, and plastered an Instagram filter over it. Oh, you’re so talented! (Those minted little lamb burgers did look tasty, though.)
Wildlife Photography
“For days, I would wander the wild planes of Africa. Patiently waiting for the female lion to appear with her cubs, hunting for a midnight feed, I managed to get this shot of motherhood from only a few feet away.” Did you? Or, did you just get in a jeep, have someone drive you for 20 minutes to the lions, get out your 20,000mm telephoto lens, take a shot, and then eat breakfast? You’re not fooling me!
“Yar, so, like, for me, it’s essential only to use the light that Jesus gave us,” said Quentin.
Natural Light Photography
“Yar, so, like, for me, it’s essential only to use the light that Jesus gave us,” said Quentin. “Sounds like you don’t know how to use studio lighting or flash,” responded Claire. Triggered, Quentin fired back, “Erm, yar I do. I just feel natural light helps you capture more natural-looking skin tones.” Pssst, Quentin doesn’t understand artificial light everyone.
I Jest!
If this article triggers you, have some camomile tea. It’s a little bit of lighthearted fun to take the stress of the day away. All genres of photography can be easy, and all of them come with difficulties. Take the words above with a pinch of salt, and don’t feel attacked! Sometimes it’s good to poke fun at ourselves. Thanks for reading.