I have yet to find my writing voice, but I have found my photography voice.
As my Flickr page shows, my best photos show me leaning sharply towards black and white photography and show me seeking bareness in my photos. I like sharp contrasts, deep shadows, and well-defined outlines.
I like simplicity in my photos.
That’s my photography voice.
And what was the critical step in finding it? Looking back, I can say it was the first step: “I took thousands of photos.”
I didn’t find it by any specific plan. Instead, I took thousands of photos, and after sifting and filtering and editing and deleting, these were the ones I enjoyed creating the most, and these were the ones I chose to publish.
And the benefit of this? Well, now, after several years of experimentation with my camera and editing software (concerning such things as subject selection, color, movement, and subject content), I am more intentional with my creative photographic voice. I now efficiently find this simplicity from the moment I lift my camera.
Retrospectively I can say this: In finding my creative photography voice, volume did matter—a sufficient volume to create a body of work.
(The concept of body of work is important, because it suggests a three dimensional depth of work, another way to express volume.)
Anyway, this is why I blog every day—seven days a week. I have yet to find my writing voice, but I know it is out there, and I know producing a high volume of writing is the essential ingredient (at least for me).
Then, by creating a body of work, my voice will find me.