Alright, let’s talk about this little project I got myself into recently. I came across the work of this guy, Daniel Bautista. Not sure where, probably just scrolling online somewhere, you know how it is. But his photos, they really stuck with me. Something about the mood, the way he uses light, felt really different.
So, I thought, okay, I gotta figure out how he does that. I spent a good chunk of time just looking through his pictures. Really looking, you know? Not just scrolling past. I tried to break it down. What was he actually doing? Seemed like a lot of it was about natural light, but he’d often find these pockets of really intense light or deep shadow. His compositions felt pretty straightforward, not overly complicated, but always seemed to guide your eye right where it needed to go.
After staring at his stuff for ages, I decided I had to try it myself. It’s one thing to look, another thing to actually do it. I didn’t have any fancy plans. Just grabbed my usual camera, the one I take everywhere. Didn’t buy any new gear or anything. The idea was to use what I had and just focus on seeing things differently, more like how I thought he might see them.
Putting it into Practice
I went out one afternoon, just walked around my neighborhood and a bit downtown. I specifically tried to pay attention to how the light was hitting buildings, people, just everyday stuff. I looked for those strong contrasts, those interesting shadows. It felt a bit weird at first, because usually I’m looking for different things when I shoot.
- I tried capturing people walking through patches of sunlight.
- Looked for reflections in windows that had interesting light.
- Focused on textures highlighted by side lighting.
Honestly, it was harder than I expected. You see a shot in your head, inspired by Bautista’s style, but then making it happen with the real world, the changing light, people moving… yeah, not so easy. A lot of the shots I took felt flat, or I missed the moment. But I kept trying, just focusing on that interplay of light and shadow he seems to master.
Got back home and dumped the photos onto my computer. Went through them, and yeah, a lot were junk. But there were a few, maybe three or four, where I felt like I got a little glimmer of that feeling I saw in Bautista’s work. Not the same quality, obviously, nowhere close. But the idea was starting to come through. I played around with editing a bit, trying to enhance the contrast and mood without going overboard, trying to keep it looking somewhat natural, which seemed key to his style too.
So, what’s the takeaway? Well, I definitely didn’t suddenly become Daniel Bautista overnight, haha. But the whole exercise was super useful. It forced me to slow down and really observe light in a way I hadn’t been. It’s easy to get stuck in your own habits, right? Trying to emulate someone else’s style, even if you don’t nail it, shakes things up. Makes you think. I’m still going to shoot like me, but I feel like I’ve added a new tool to my mental toolbox, a new way of looking at things, thanks to digging into his work. It was a good practical session, definitely worth the time.
