The only constant in this world, is change.
Everything in this world continues to change. Evolution drives change. Those that fail to evolve, cease to exist. This not only holds true for the broad spectrum of life, but for our simple daily tasks as well. With every aspect of our lives, we should be striving to heighten our awareness, sharpen our mental capacity, and hone our skill sets, all pursuant of a better quality of life. As a photographer, this concept couldn’t be more important. As photographers, we should always be open the possibility of change, the possibility of evolving. To do so, one of the most important things that we can do is to remove ourselves from our comfort zones. Provide yourself with a unique set of obstacles — something that challenges you to view your project from a different perspective. For example, this might mean shooting an entire session with only a single lens. If you are typically used to swapping lenses to achieve a particular look, sticking to a single lens for an entire session will force you to get creative, searching for options that you may not have considered before. Whatever type of challenge you provide for yourself, the ultimate goal is to open your horizons, break your habits and continue to evolve your craft.
If you happen to follow my work, you are likely familiar with my love for off-camera lighting. While I do not reach for my lighting 100% of the time, I do find that I am drawn to it for a vast majority of my work. I adore the vivid colors, the rich contrasts and unique, personalized style that you can achieve from off-camera lighting. Even though this might be my go-to style, it is always important to keep ourselves in tune with every aspect of light — both natural and artificial. This is where my personal challenge came into play. For this particular engagement session, I decided to challenge myself to shoot the entire session with only natural light (OK…I actually cheated at sunset and snapped off a few with off-camera flash, but lets just say that one was “after the buzzer”).
Of course, I would never up and decide to change my shooting style for just any ol’ client. When a bride and groom, for instance, hire me to photograph their wedding, they are doing so based on the body of work (style) that I am displaying in my portfolio. In that case, it is very important that I provide a similar type of product to them in their final images (unless discussed otherwise). There is of course always room for some experimentation during that process, but I wouldn’t suggest completely flip-flopping your shooting style on them mid-wedding. For this particular engagement session, on the other hand, this was something that was completely welcomed and embraced.
Haley and I had the amazing opportunity to work with Lauren and Alex for both our own engagement session, as well as theirs! After approaching her about photographing us for our own engagement, Lauren and Alex turned it back around and asked us if we would be interested in returning the favor. Of course, I was honored and couldn’t have been happier to do so. At that moment, I decided to present myself with the challenge previously mentioned. Knowing that Lauren is predominately a natural light shooter, I figured that she would appreciate us returning the favor in her preferred style of shooting. Not only would this be something beneficial for the couple, but this would provide a unique challenge for myself as well. And what a great experience it turned out to be. Not only were Lauren and Alex amazing to work with, but shooting their session gave me a fresh outlook on shooting in various types of situations. I believe this really helps us stay on our toes, which is so incredibly important in this industry. No matter how much you know, you will never know it all. Keep an open mind and continue to evolve your craft.
