Photography Trends vs. Personal Vision: Staying True to Your Work
- Shutter Nonsense
- Jun 2
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 22
Iconic locations, social media pressure, intimate landscapes, grand views, business reality, and making photographs that still feel like your own.
In episode 28 of Shutter Nonsense, Brenda Tharp joins us for a candid conversation about one of the harder tensions in photography: making work that gets attention without losing the work that actually feels like yours. Brenda brings a long-view perspective on social media trends, iconic locations, personal vision, and the pressure to be known for one thing, while we bring our own current version of that same tension as we grow workshops, think about print sales, and decide what kinds of images belong on our websites.
The conversation stays practical. Sometimes the icon is worth photographing. Sometimes the smaller scene is where the real connection happens. Sometimes the business needs a clear view of the place, and sometimes we need to ignore the algorithm and make the picture anyway.
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Photography Trends, Iconic Locations, and Personal Vision
Brenda Tharp joins us for a conversation about a tension that comes up constantly in photography: how do you make work that gets attention without losing the work that actually feels like yours? It's a question Brenda has wrestled with over a long career, and it's one we're dealing with too as the show grows, our workshops develop, and our photography businesses keep changing.
Brenda brings the long-view perspective in this episode. She talks about trends, iconic locations, print sales, workshops, social media, and the pressure to be known for one recognizable thing. We come at the same topic from our own current realities: deciding what to show on our websites, how to market workshops honestly, how to balance broad landscape views with smaller personal work, and how to keep photography from turning into nothing but business decisions.
Photography Trends and Social Media Pressure
A big part of the episode starts with social media. Brenda talks about seeing wave after wave of similar images from Colorado, Caddo Lake, the Wasatch Range, and other popular locations. Those places are beautiful, and plenty of the photographs are excellent, but the repetition can make it feel like everyone is chasing the same visual reward system.
We know that pull too. If a certain kind of image gets attention, it's hard not to notice. If a famous place fills workshops, sells prints, or performs well online, it's hard not to factor that into decisions. The problem starts when those outside signals become the main reason to make a photograph. At that point, the camera isn't following curiosity anymore; it's following pressure.
Photographing Iconic Locations Without Copying Everyone Else
We're not trying to turn iconic locations into villains. Brenda isn't either. Tunnel View is still powerful. Oxbow Bend is still beautiful. Famous places usually become famous because there's something genuinely compelling there, and pretending otherwise doesn't make anyone more original.
The better question is what happens after the obvious frame. Brenda's approach is to make the expected photograph if she wants it, then keep looking. Move around. Stay with the place. Look for smaller scenes, different light, different relationships, or a quieter version of the story. The icon can be the starting point instead of the whole assignment.
For us, this connects directly to workshops. We need images that show why a location is worth visiting, especially when people are deciding whether to join a trip. But if all we show is the same recognizable view, we're not doing much to help photographers see deeper. The stronger goal is to show the place clearly, then help people move past the postcard version once they're there.
Intimate Landscape Photography Is Not Automatically More Authentic
The episode also gets into a trap that's easy to miss. Right now, intimate landscapes and small scenes are often treated as if they're automatically more personal, more artistic, or more honest than grand views. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they're just the new version of chasing what other photographers are praising.
Brenda's work moves across both worlds, which is part of why this conversation works. She can love a wide scenic view and still be drawn to light, texture, gesture, humor, form, and found details. We both relate to that in different ways. Jeffrey has a long-running connection to waterfalls and scenic overlooks, while Michael has spent a lot of time with quieter woodland scenes and smaller visual relationships. None of those subjects are automatically better than the others.
The useful question isn't whether the photograph is big or small. It's whether it's honest to what caught your attention. A small scene made because small scenes are trendy isn't more authentic than a grand landscape made because the light, scale, and experience genuinely moved you.
Building a Photography Business Without Losing the Work You Love
Brenda is realistic about the business side of photography, and that part of the conversation matters because we're not talking about creativity in a vacuum. If you're trying to sell prints, fill workshops, or build a recognizable body of work, you can't pretend the market doesn't exist.
We're dealing with a version of that too. Workshop marketing needs enough clarity that people understand where they're going and what they might learn. Print sales often favor images that connect quickly. Websites need to communicate a body of work without making it feel scattered. Those are real business considerations, but they can quietly start driving every creative choice if you're not paying attention.
Brenda's point, and ours, is that the business can be part of the picture without becoming the whole picture. Some images may exist because they explain a workshop location well. Some may be made because they're likely to connect with buyers. Some need to be made for no better reason than they still make you want to pick up the camera. If that last category disappears, burnout is probably not far behind.
Finding Your Photography Style Across More Than One Genre
Another strong thread in the discussion is the pressure to be known for one thing. Brenda talks about being told that photographers should choose a lane, whether that's food, travel, nature, or something else. The advice makes sense from a branding standpoint, but it can feel suffocating if your eye doesn't work that way.
For Brenda, the attraction is often light, form, shape, color, texture, gesture, and visual surprise. That can happen in a landscape, but it can also happen in travel photography, found objects, or everyday details. We run into a related question with Shutter Nonsense: the show is rooted in nature and landscape photography, but the creative process doesn't always stay inside one neat category.
Being clear about your work doesn't always mean narrowing your life down to one subject. Sometimes the clearer statement is: this is how I see. That can be harder to explain than a single genre label, but it may be more accurate.
Being Yourself as a Photographer Takes Practice
The hardest part of all this may be the vulnerability. Sharing a photograph is one thing. Sharing a photograph that feels personal, strange, quiet, funny, or different from what people expect is another. Brenda talks about that discomfort directly, especially around the work that feels closer to who she is now.
We recognize that from our own sides of the work. Michael has talked about using image titles and short creative backstories to reveal more of himself than a straightforward caption would. Jeffrey points out that changing direction can feel risky when people already know you for certain subjects or locations. Even when the change is creatively healthy, it can still feel exposed.
That discomfort doesn't mean the work is wrong. It may just mean the work is no longer hiding behind the safest version of what people already understand.
Trusting Your Own Photography in a Noisy Online World
Brenda ends the conversation with a practical kind of faith: believe in the work, take one step forward, and don't let one quiet social media post convince you that the photograph failed. That's easier to say than to live, but it's a useful reset when the online world starts making everything feel like a scoreboard.
There is still room for popular places, broad views, workshop marketing, and images that help pay the bills. There also has to be room for the photographs that make your heart jump a little, even if they don't fit cleanly into the current trend. That's the balance we're trying to hold onto ourselves: make the work useful, make the business sustainable, but don't lose the part of photography that made the whole thing worth building in the first place.
Listen to the Episode Behind This Article
This article covers the main takeaways, but the full episode gets into Brenda's career, van life, Substack, iconic locations, workshop realities, print sales, social media, and the ongoing challenge of making work that still feels like your own.
Related Links
Brenda’s website: https://www.brendatharp.com/
Brenda’s Substack: https://brendatharp.substack.com/
Extraordinary Everyday Photography by Brenda Tharp and Jed Manwaring: https://amzn.to/3QmlURv
Pacific Northwest Art School: https://pacificnorthwestartschool.org/product-category/400-photography/
Michael’s free Featured Frames series on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/collection/500898
Northern California Council of Camera Clubs: https://n4c.org/
Richard Martin: https://www.richardmartinphoto.com/
Michael’s PhotoPack Pro App: https://www.photopackpro.com
Michael’s Print Box Set: https://www.michaelrungphotography.com/limited-edition-print-folios
Ben Horne: https://www.benhorne.com/
Ernst Hass: https://ernst-haas.com/
Sammy Davis Jr, I’ve Gotta Be Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXYndNL4Mu8
Freeman Patterson: https://www.freemanpatterson.com/
Ansel Adams quote: https://photographylife.com/two-people-in-every-photo-ansel-adams
Jay Maisel: https://www.jaymaisel.com/
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Michael Rung
Michael is a nature and landscape photographer based in Texas, with a deep appreciation for quiet forests and the unique character of trees. His photography often explores the subtle beauty in overlooked scenes, capturing atmosphere and emotion through careful composition and light. Michael brings thoughtful insight, honest reflections, and a grounded perspective to every episode of Shutter Nonsense.
Jeffrey Tadlock
Jeffrey is a landscape photographer from Ohio who finds inspiration in waterfalls, scenic overlooks, and the ever-changing light of the natural world. He enjoys sharing stories from the field and helping others improve their skills through practical, experience-based tips. With a passion for teaching and a love of the outdoors, Jeffrey brings clarity and encouragement to fellow photographers at all levels.
