If you’re anything like me you have about 84 blogs in your RSS feeder. Besides all the fun shopping ones, I have photographers ranging from newborns to news coverage to newlyweds. I’ve never found myself to be a person narrowed down to one element in life. It’s hard enough for me to choose between restaurants, the color of my hair and what to wear for the day, but to lock down my photography to one area or type is difficult. I know there are experts out there that will call me naive or foolish, but I guess that’s part of my learning curve. Maybe one day I’ll look back on all this and “call me crazy” (which wouldn’t be out of the ordinary). There are those who preach that narrowing your focus or specialty is important to refining your talent and being clear with your clients. I totally see this point. But, my initial obsession with photography began with the the desire to capture a moment in time or the beauty of a person’s soul while telling a story of their life. To me this applies to all aspects of image capture, from weddings, to birth, to the daily perspective of a child, to my own family, to the beauty in a small tiny flower. It’s my connection with the subject that is (if you must put a name on it), my “style”. My relationship with my client comes across in the images my camera happens to freeze during the moment. While I am mostly a child & budding wedding photographer, I have a longing to travel the world and create social awareness for humanitarian causes as well.
The point of all this is to say, I think I really love photography. Well, I should revise and say I love photography. I love how powerful the medium is in conveying a story. Whether it is a story of love or famine or birth or death, it is a window into the souls of others. A medium that brings awareness to all and levels the playing field of life to reveal the humanity within all people, within in all places of this earth and within all belief and economic systems. It allows people to be seen as human beings. I know that I may excel in one particular area, but overall I love to take inspiration from everywhere, not just other people’s wedding photos (although I do stalk about 56 wedding blogs. i am guilty.)
One of my all time favorite photographers once said:
“ I don’t believe a person has a style. What people have is a way of photographing what is inside them. What is there comes out.” – Sebastiao Salgado
Here are a few photos that have had a huge impact on me. They are NOT my photographs (I wish they were):
by brett walker
And Because they don’t all have to be heavy hearted (even though I see joy in some of the above):
Saw this yesterday. Pretty much shows how photographs can tell a story, together:
Great post!
by admin
show hide 22 comments