Clichés - a moon-airplane one

[MilT0s]

Do you shoot clichés or do you avoid them?

I used to avoid them as much as I could as I though they don't ofter much. No one would ever like them and they will not make me a better photographer.

I totally changed my mind!!!

Clichés are a great tool. It is the way towards good photographs. A mandatory step before riching a higher point. I see them like the fine art student who want to become a painter spending many months of his life painting pointless apples and vases in order to learn how to use the fundamental tools.

I now love clichés!!... I shoot them every time I can to exercise composition, exposure, to learn my equipment better, to develop the capability to click at the "decisive moment".

[dan marchant]

Trying to find a new shot is great but I agree that shooting a cliché shot is a great way to see how you stack up at the basics - you can easily compare yours to others out there and hone your skills.

[Donald]

Clichés are a great tool. It is the way towards good photographs. A mandatory step before riching a higher point. I see them like the fine art student who want to become a painter spending many months of his life painting pointless apples and vases in order to learn how to use the fundamental tools.

That is actually a very good way of thinking and one I had never considered before. Something that could indeed be very useful for the person who is in the earlier stages of their development in photography ... or even for some of the 'old-stagers' to remind themselves of some of the fundamentals.

[CougarFool]

I have found that although I don't like shooting them and try to think of a different shot, my non-photographer friends and family love them! So I always shoot the cliches first and then move on to the more experimental shots.

[MilT0s]

I have found that although I don't like shooting them and try to think of a different shot, my non-photographer friends and family love them! So I always shoot the cliches first and then move on to the more experimental shots.

That's also true. It always surprises me that most people not familiar with the photographic art and some great photographer sometimes tend to prefer a cliché shot from a masterpiece. Probably a similar situation with people not liking Guernica because they don't understand it! Shooting clichés and then exploring the hidden one is the best way, at least for the amateur photographer like me.

[paul17]

I have found that although I don't like shooting them and try to think of a different shot, my non-photographer friends and family love them! So I always shoot the cliches first and then move on to the more experimental shots.

I am along these line too, I feel you have to do them, get them out of your system, so that you can then move on. With some of my portraits I have started of with the cliches, as it gives a working base, then as the shoot progress you see other things and then it develops from there.

[Dave Humphries]

Do you shoot clichés or do you avoid them?

Me, no, never