I have been thinking about my business a lot lately. It seems as though everyone knows a photographer, whether a professional or someone getting started or even just someone that is just good enough. Everyone knows someone with a nice or really nice camera. And what that means to me is less weddings, portraits and h.s. senior portraits. It also means, like this year, I have to raise prices. And in thinking about how to get more business and such boring but necessary things, my mind wandered and I thought about why I do what I do... Which if you could see the picture in my head, it is beautiful! There are wide open beaches, colorful mountains, fields of golden grass with tumbling children in it, couples chasing each other through graffitied alleys - it really is fabulous. And I love my role in observing these moments, participating in these wonderful memories. I truly believe in photography. It is how I live my life, how I think, remember, believe.
I photograph because I love it. I love the heaviness of the camera in my hand, how when I move the camera it changes the composition or if I step forward or zoom out, it can change the entire feel of an image. I have always loved art. At times I want to pick up a pencil and draw, which I am horrible at! With a camera, I can move around my subject and get so many different angles. I can tell stories with images, something I feel would take too long painting or drawing (mostly because I am too impatient). When I photograph, the world melts around me. I feel like I am painting inside the world as it moves around me, I am there to document my environment. I could be sick, tired, hungry or irritable, but when I start to photograph all that melts away. As I photograph, I do not like to interfere with my environment. I prefer to be a part of it and photograph what I see, not what I create.
I often equate images with food. A fabulous image is nutrition for the soul. It can make you slow down, appreciate things you don't usually notice - a good image will make you feel love and remember that love later on. Much like food a good image can be like that most memorable meal (Il Fornaio in Coronado California for me). A good image does not have to a Van Gogh, Manet or Klimt, it can be the crooked tooth wide open grin of a child, or the moment when husband and wife melt into one another for their first kiss as husband and wife or a sibling that has that instant spark or injustice. These moments are beautiful. These real moments are what is worth remembering, they evoke emotions of when the little one's were so perfect, tiny and delightful! They don't even have to be professional images, I love all kinds of images! We cannot always have these moments, we would suffocate. But it is fabulous to remember them! This is why I do what I do!
In knowing this, I trudge on forward, hoping that others will see and appreciate my passion! I couldn't do it without my wonderful clients, I really owe a lot to them! So thank you wonderful people who I love to go play with!
I photograph because I love it. I love the heaviness of the camera in my hand, how when I move the camera it changes the composition or if I step forward or zoom out, it can change the entire feel of an image. I have always loved art. At times I want to pick up a pencil and draw, which I am horrible at! With a camera, I can move around my subject and get so many different angles. I can tell stories with images, something I feel would take too long painting or drawing (mostly because I am too impatient). When I photograph, the world melts around me. I feel like I am painting inside the world as it moves around me, I am there to document my environment. I could be sick, tired, hungry or irritable, but when I start to photograph all that melts away. As I photograph, I do not like to interfere with my environment. I prefer to be a part of it and photograph what I see, not what I create.
I often equate images with food. A fabulous image is nutrition for the soul. It can make you slow down, appreciate things you don't usually notice - a good image will make you feel love and remember that love later on. Much like food a good image can be like that most memorable meal (Il Fornaio in Coronado California for me). A good image does not have to a Van Gogh, Manet or Klimt, it can be the crooked tooth wide open grin of a child, or the moment when husband and wife melt into one another for their first kiss as husband and wife or a sibling that has that instant spark or injustice. These moments are beautiful. These real moments are what is worth remembering, they evoke emotions of when the little one's were so perfect, tiny and delightful! They don't even have to be professional images, I love all kinds of images! We cannot always have these moments, we would suffocate. But it is fabulous to remember them! This is why I do what I do!
In knowing this, I trudge on forward, hoping that others will see and appreciate my passion! I couldn't do it without my wonderful clients, I really owe a lot to them! So thank you wonderful people who I love to go play with!
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