I've been thinking a lot about vision lately. Mostly because my favorite watering hole in Dallas, Trader Vic's, recently closed it's doors.  

Obviously, their closure was due in part to low sales. So why the low sales? My opinion is that the decision makers lacked vision. Instead of being what they were, they tried to be everything but what they really were. I'm not going to get into the specifics, but think of it like this....if you went to a Chinese restaurant, would you expect to hear disco music while watching sports on TV? Certainly not...you'd expect the food, the music and the overall ambiance to tie in together. When those things are all very separate, it shows a lack of vision.

When you apply the vision aspect to photography, sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what a photographers vision really is based on the pictures on their web site. Some try to be a million different things to show they can do all sorts of different work. Their photography may be exceptional, but it won't have a style.

In photography, having a vision leads to having a style and that's probably the hardest to obtain attribute for any photographer. To some it comes very naturally, others need to work at it. 

If you can have a clear and concise vision on the photos you want to make, a style will start to emerge. Keep taking pictures, review your work, pick the ones you like, go out and take more. After you have a few hundred, compress it down to 10 or 15. You'll start to see a style based on your vision. Do this exercise as often as you can and watch your photography improve dramatically. 

And most importantly, be what you are!