Sean Tucker has been an inspiration for me since I got back into photography. If you’re looking for insight on just about anything, he is a great source, not just for technical information, but also philosophical guidance. I would say that I have found the latter to have been helpful on my journey much more than the former. His most recent video really spoke to me because I don’t feel like I can be easily labeled and put into a category as a photographer. I dabble in whatever fascinates or draws me in. It’s an emotional exercise for me much more than a technical one. I do street photography but feel immensely uncomfortable including recognizable faces of strangers in my images. I enjoy taking abstract photographs just as much as I do taking landscapes. I really haven’t gotten to a point where I have a comprehensive record of my work on here yet, but if you know my work from IG or anywhere else, you’d probably have a difficult time putting me into a conventional photography genre. Which is fine with me; I don’t want to be labeled in what I do behind the camera.
The bottom line is that you don’t need anyone’s permission to do something you love the way that you want to do it. I approach photography now pretty much the same way I did as a kid in the 80’s running around with a Kodak 110 in my pocket. I frame images that please me, compose them using the few rudimentary rules I’ve picked up along the way, and don’t really worry when I break them. I enjoy the hell out of the process and if other people like what I do, I am immensely pleased. But in the end I do it for me, for my enjoyment.
Give yourself permission to do what you love the way you like doing it.