Cyber city

Graham McCowen creates a futuristic look with off-camera flash

For my part, the most important and challenging part of being a photographer is storytelling, because there are quite a few ways to tell a story. Should I focus on creating images that sell a mood, or have a blatant message?

In photography, the person behind the camera is more important than what’s going on in front of it. Whether the story is fiction or fact, it’s down to me to tell it in an interesting way.

Nowadays, everyone has a camera on their phone, and if you’ve ever asked yourself, “What can I do to stand out?” the answer is simple: have your own style. Style comes from your own storytelling abilities, which in turn comes from your own personality, experiences, visual interests and so on, making photography a very personal art form.

When it comes to my personal projects, the images I take aren’t necessarily the best images I can take; they are the best I can take with almost zero funding. That in itself is pretty interesting, boosting my creativity to make up for my lack of budget. Here is where I’ve found the importance of fully utilising all aspects of photography, from conceptualisation through to editing.