Don't read this if you don't want the truth. If you want to continue living with rose-colored glasses on, exit, go back, keep scrolling, goodbye. However if you are itching for a genuine, no BS heart-to-heart then maybe stick around - I'm feeling a little raw today and I think it's time to get some things off my mind.
You're still here? Okay, well let's get into it.
As a photographer, you find yourself often in an interesting situation: the person you are taking pictures of requested you to do so, even paid you, yet more times than not they are loathing it the whole time. Why? Because they are unhappy with how they look. Well, what if I told you, contrary to popular belief, photos have nothing to do with looks. Sure, photography is a visual art, but just like the fine art we study in museums, photography is about capturing feelings and essence. Not to get all artsy-fartsy on you... actually, I take that back! I do want to get artsy-fartsy. In fact, that's why I take photos in the first place! This first photographer confession is I wish you would stop caring about what you looked like. Please, if just for the hour or so that we are together, allow yourself to feel something other than insecure. Feel happy, feel silly, or (if you dare) feel beautiful. I think I speak for every photographer when I say that we have never shot an ugly person. Perhaps we have captured dark matters or emotions, but never a person that was that too fat, too asymmetrical, or too unworthy of taking a photo of. With that said, this confession comes in two parts; part two is that I really don't want to edit out your double chin or your belly - I will if you absolutely insist - but I want you to accept who you are and be proud in front of my lens. And if you aren't feeling that during our shoot, I want to feel that way when you look at our completed gallery. If I can get you there, then I will have arrived at success.
This next confession is more of a plea: please trust me. If you are booking with me, know that I take it to heart. As soon as you inquire with me I am spinning with ideas and casting vision for our time together. No shoot has been "just another shoot." Every shoot is a piece of me and a piece of you dancing together to create something new (I told you wanted to get artsy-fartsy). For this to happen you have to trust me as your creative captain. From wardrobe to location to props, things may feel strange or be outside your comfort zone - but this isn't a dark back alley, strange and uncomfortable are good things in the art world. If you're willing to trust my vision and dive in to the deep end with me, I promise we will have fun and turn out some amazing pieces.
Confession three: I wish you didn't wait for a reason to shoot. Better yet, I want to add, I wish you didn't wait for a person to shoot either. What do I mean? Well, my friend, so many feel until they have a significant other, an accomplishment or a milestone that there is no reason to book a shoot. I'm telling you right now that the first person that comes to me wanting to shoot some creative, fun, "for-no-special-reason" photos will have me there free of charge. I got into photography because I truly see life as something worth capturing. I got into portrait and storytelling photography specifically because I believe that you, people, faces, bodies, are the thing that are most worth capturing - with or without a specific reason.
My last confession for today is this: I am so incredibly grateful, humbled, baffled, and amazed that you would book with me. I am just doing what I feel in my bones I must do, and I try my very best each time, I pour myself into every bit of it, then I put it on display for the world to see, judge, and critique. When you decide to work with me, you have decided that there is a part of each of us that speaks to one another. And that, friend, is just something seriously special.
Well, thank you for getting a little off the beaten path and hearing me out. I hope this either helps you understand the mind of a photographer a bit more (at least this one's). And if you are interested in seeing what this is like in action, let's talk about working together.
As always, I wish you all well, and thank you for your time!