How do professional photographers find inspiration?
We headed to Photo London, the annual photography fair bringing together the world’s leading galleries, to find out what makes our Creators and Ambassadors tick
Fresh off the buzz of the ninth edition of the Photo London fair, hosted by Somerset House and partnered by Nikon, we rounded up a few of our Ambassadors and Creators to ask one simple question: How do you find your inspiration?
Ben Moore, urban photographer
Nikon Creator
“My inspiration comes from my world. What I watch and what I consume. I like playing computer games, watching sci-fi movies, I see cool things and I want to put them in my photos. It’s all about expression and the way I see things. I’ve got this image of this cool cyberpunk world and then when I see London looking bland, I try to mould it into that. I like to see things that look simply cool.”
Peter Li, architecture photographer
Nikon Creator
“I grew up in Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s and we have a large console-gaming culture. Often the games really romanticise European architecture, especially castles. I’ve been in Europe now for the past 20 years and started photographing ten years ago and I often photograph cathedrals, and a lot of my inspiration comes from the lighting, colour tones and visual aspects from those games.”
Roxy Furman, wildlife photographer and videographer
Nikon Creator
“Inspiration arises when I come across something that makes me feel something. So, whether that’s a person or an animal, an image that I see or a story that I have read, if it ignites an emotional response to me, that’s a story that I have to tell. If I feel emotionally connected to the story, I then have the passion and the drive to tell that story in a way that I feel like it needs to be told.”
Jess Rose, wedding photographer
Nikon Creator
“I find my inspiration from being outdoors as much as possible and spending time in nature. When you’re busy on shoots you end up spending a lot of time in front of the screen, so I’d always advise reminding yourself to go and be in nature and also be part of a community with other photographers so that ideas can be sparked and bounced off each other too.”
Clive Mason, sports photographer
Nikon Ambassador
“Inspiration is spontaneous. It’s going to reflect what you’re seeing, what you’re doing, what the light is and what you’re photographing. Outside of that, you have no control over inspiration because you try something, it works. It doesn’t work. You try harder. Sometimes the inspiration works for you and sometimes against.”
Leon Neal, news photographer
Nikon Ambassador
“What Clive said! Absolutely. But yes, my own inspiration is drawn from whatever has happened in the news that day.”
Roza Wiktoria Tyborowska, fashion and editorial photographer
Nikon Creator
“I get my inspiration from meditation and from observing my own mind. I think it comes down to our individual perception as human beings, because perception is perceiving reality through our senses. Even though we all have the same organs responsible for the perception, we see the world differently, because our minds are filled with completely different memories and thoughts and emotions. Once we learn how to observe it, and analyse it deeply, then I think that’s where the inspiration comes from. But for me, I also draw inspiration from philosophy, physics, theatre, looking at all sorts of different references and taking it outside of photography, rather than just showing reality.”
Lucy Hamidzadeh, street and portrait photographer
Nikon Creator
“I find my inspiration from the people around me. Just everyday life and talking to people. My inspiration is just how I make sense of the world around me and how everybody is different and everybody has a story. You might not be able to tell it from the outside, but we all have a story inside waiting to be told.”
Lou Jasmine, fashion and portrait photographer
Nikon Creator
“I find my inspiration from human nature. I’m so fascinated by people, the everyday life and the range of human emotions. I’m someone who is a deeply sensitive person and I’m also neurodiverse as well. So, I get the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. As my friends would say, I’m mostly an optimistic person and I love seeing the beauty in people. Sometimes I should probably be a bit more discerning, but I intrinsically believe in the joy of humanity.”
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