As one of the most iconic writers and directors of the past three decades, Quentin Tarantino has built a career as a unique voice in film. While his medium of storytelling is motion pictures, there is much we can learn from his journey as a photographer searching for his own creative voice.
I am a fan of your YouTube channel. Tatiana Hopper for a while, and the video featured here is another in her series, in which she looks at how creative people overcome the challenges and obstacles they are forced to face on their way to building successful careers in their own creative fields. In a previous article Here on Fstoppers, I discussed Tatiana’s video about filmmaker Christopher Nolan and the lessons we can learn as photographers from his career. In new video In this series, Tatiana delves into the career of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, with a similar purpose.
As I said in my previous post, whether you work with still or moving images, telling a story visually is a true art. But regardless of whether your chosen creative medium is visual or not, there seems to be a set of core principles that are essential starting points for finding your voice in any creative field. In Christopher Nolan’s video, Tatiana discusses the importance of breaking the rules and pushing against established norms in order to create something unique. This theme is echoed in Tarantino’s video, and when we look at the career paths of these creators, we certainly begin to see some patterns from which we can draw valuable lessons as photographers.
This video also has other lessons about taking action instead of waiting for the perfect moment to start, about working with what you have, about channeling the pain and discomfort of difficult times into your art, and about knowing yourself and what you want to achieve from photography.
