TR Street Magazine - October

Welcome to your monthly Street Photography Magazine where we will be reviewing street photography photos taken by you on VSCO & Instagram using #trstreetmag. For a chance to be featured just use the hashtag in your latest posts, it’s FREE!

This will be the final blog posted on both VSCO and my website before the blog officially moves to my website only. As I have been paying for the pro membership on VSCO I have had access to the blog feature for this last year and although I think the feature is great I'd like to keep my branding in one place so don't worry, the blog will continue to run and you can still take part on either VSCO or Instagram but main articles will be on my website only from November onwards. (tommyregan.co.uk)

In this month's blog we’ll explore ideas that help you keep your creativity flowing longer during shoots and share useful tips for when burnout starts to hit. 

Taken by: @tommyregan

Using VSCO to Find Inspiration

One of the reasons I love using VSCO for inspiration is because there are so many features that let you curate your own collections that feel personlised to you, as well as the algorithm tailoring posts to suit your style. On your phone, scroll to the search tab where the page will look like this (see image below). On the discover page you will find the Selects tab which is a feature that showcases trending images on the app, here you can find popular images over the last week or month. The talent showcased under this tab really inspires me as a creative and I hope it can inspire you too!

Another section popular on the app is the "Just for You" tab where you can find a selection of images that have been curated for you only. This adds to the personalised feel you get on VSCO, this tab shows you a range of photography across all genres to help you think more creatively as a photographer. I find that through the use of colours and composition, this tab gives me more insight into how I could be framing my shots. 

Building a Moodboard

Creating a moodboard is probably the easiest way to inspire your work and having one in an accessible place can be such a powerful asset to your work when you need some inspiration to help you before going out to shoot or even using during the shoot. 

With VSCO you can create a moodboard very easily using the "Spaces" tab. You can create a new space in the homepage by clicking the '+' then clicking 'New space'. I have my Space on private currently and you can do the same if you want to keep it to yourself. If you'd like to view my space as an example you can access it here:

Tommy's Moodboard

As you can see in the images above and below, I have screenshotted images from Instagram keeping the creator in the image to remind me who's content inspired me and so I can reference back to it when I need to find more content to help bring new ideas. My moodboard is based on my interest in Portraiture, Live Music Events & Automotive Cars and I like the cinematic/film like style which you can see reflected in the colours.

Following Creators Who Inspire You

A simple and easy method is to follow creators who make you feel emotions inside, it's the visual storytellers of the world who use all aspects of visual language that create the content that inspires you the most. It doesn't matter how many followers someone has, all that matters is that images elicit a spark inside you that drives your photography to be better. We can all improve in one way or another and by keeping an open mind, there is always something we can learn from others and implement in our own work. 

On Instagram for example, you can add creators to a favourites list which you can view from the homescreen if you hold the instagram logo in the top left corner. You can add creators easily by searching their username or going to the explore tab and finding their username then hitting the dropdown menu from following, then click add to favourites - the same way you would add someone to your close friends list. This method doesn't have to apply to Instagram, but I just thought was the easiest example to use. 

Final Thoughts

To conclude, there are lots of tools and apps you can use to help inspire your photography. Stay creative by looking at creators and content that pushes you towards creating a style or theme that you can be proud of. When you're feeling low or close to hitting creative burnout just remember why you started, look for new styles and maybe even listen to music that makes you feel good again. We can all find ways to inspire our next shoot, so I hope this helped you and gave you something new to think about.