Inspiration for words or pictures comes from many sources but if you want to improve your ability to learn from the masters you must first understand the language they use. There are indeed rules of grammar and rules of picture composition. I don’t want to bang on about the rules, I’ll leave that for the others you will no doubt meet in your career.

I want you to understand that you need to be able to deconstruct photographs in order to learn from them. When you see a picture that makes a deep impression on you, stop. Take time to learn how it was made. Look at the lighting, the shadows and contrast will tell you what’s going on with the light. Look also at the pose, the camera viewpoint, the framing of the picture. Then look at the perspective, the depth of field, the tones foreground and background, the expression, and the dynamic in the picture. Finally put everything together. The success of a photograph depends upon all of these elements in harmony or disharmony. I say disharmony because almost all of the greatest photographs that inspire me, show scant regard for the ‘rules’ of composition. It’s often the lack of conformity that sets a picture free from mediocrity. The greatest artists were great not because they stuck to conventions of what had gone before but were free to explore beyond boundaries. Picasso rearranged elements of the human body to break the rules of relative size and position as laid down by the likes of Leonardo D’Vinci. Art was liberated once again.

How to find inspiration for poses and picture styles:

Key search terms into Google images and go picture hunting. When I was after inspiration for my Passion On The Streets workshops in Tuscany and Amsterdam I looked at pictures of the Tango Argentino dance. When I think of passion, I think of Latin America, so that’s where I went to for inspiration (online not in real life).

For elegance and sophistication I’d look for Giorgio Armani advertising campaign pictures going back several years.

For amazing interior group shots, perfect for brides and bridesmaids, I’d look at Ralph Lauren advertising campaign pictures.

For exterior holiday style portraits I’d look at Gant catalogues going back for the past twelve seasons or so. Brilliant inspiration shots for autumn and winter  exteriors too. The photographers who shoot for Gant are never scared to use slow shutter speeds or shoot dark interiors.

Subscribe to Vogue and get to know the looks of major brands and sub brands. Gucci for instance never fails to surprise and excite me. Shots that I’d have deleted seem fantastic once the word Gucci is overlaid. Flare, grain, out of focus but somehow brilliant.

Sub brands have their own unique looks too. Giorgio Armani has a look of clean pure low ISO rim lit perfection, always with a couple of models as its style. There is a story in each picture for you to decode. Like “if you wear this suit you too can have a woman this gorgeous on your arm.” Then there is Armani Exchange, Armani Jeans, Emporio Armani, and Mani. Each sub brand has its own look. Armani Jeans has high ISO grain seemingly naturally lit interiors featuring young couples relaxing, often topless but never revealing, leaving the rest to your imagination. Carefully remove pictures that inspire you and file away in a lever arch file or ‘look book’.

There is so much inspiration out there. What is your brand style going to be like?

Vary your sources for picture ideas. Watch MTV on your computer and screen grab images. Watch drama series too, like 24. These are so well shot, virtually any still frame is a masterpiece.

Surf the net keying in artists and photographers names into Google images and see what comes up.

Have a folder on your desktop called inspiration. Load the files into Lightroom, crop them and use the contact sheet feature to print them 6 to a page. Print them off and add them to your look book.

How to find inspiration for words:

Words are different – they come from within. I wrote the script for my next project, all 16,500 words of it, over the past couple of weeks, at a beach bar in the Maldives. I had my feet in the sand and surf looking out on a turquoise Indian ocean. Above me was a deep blue sky with puffy Cumulus clouds drifting by. I sat at a table made of driftwood in the shade of a coconut palm tree and keyed my thoughts into my iPad using its keyboard dock.

My mind was clear, my vision filled with beauty and my ideas flowed like a river of inspiration. Every now and then I sipped at my ice cold beer whilst letting my eyes wander the horizon and I had a pretty amazing experience.

2000 words a day was easy and it still left time for all the other things that make up a holiday in paradise.

If I want to get things done, I often need to clear my mind of the lists of tasks and emails that seem to nag at me. I don’t have a desk in the office. I have a laptop, an iPad and I work where I want. In the summer it might be a hammock in the garden and in the winter I’ll be found in the kitchen by the AGA with a Cappuccino.

It is fair to say my mind is scatty at best and drifts easily. I’m so easily distracted. My desk, if I had one would be full of clutter and not a place of inspiration.

You have to find a system that works for you. You need space to create, space to think, space to write and to get things done. If you spend 30 hours a week working on the business make your workspace a great place to be. It’s hard to be inspired when working from a place you don’t like. The first of the Harry Potter books was written in a cafe. So don’t rule anything out.

I’ve heard stories of bands going to stay in remote cottages to write albums of music. I can understand that process and it works for me.

I’ve created a unique three day workshop event in Somerset limited to 18 photographers. Joining me will be two of the UK’s most inspirational photographers working in portraiture. We’ll have shoots, evening talks and we’ll all be dining together to ensure the perfect inspirational time is had by all. It’s not all about the art either. These portrait photographers regularly earn tens of thousands of pounds from individual commissions. This is an unashamedly high end event. The details are here. I do hope you can join us.

Please feel free to comment below.