Mood & Story

Photography can be unusual – I’ve had to learn different sets of social skills that don’t really come naturally. It’s the same with sales; you need to build rapport as quickly as possible, despite being a stranger to clients in most cases. For me, I need to learn or pick up on as much about a family or couple in order to give photography that’s best suited for them. Basically, it’s me creating a story for them based on what kind of message that I (or the clients) want to portray through photography.

Photography requires a dynamic balance of both the technical and the creative, with a blend of both real and surreal. It’s important to make the subject of photography as comfortable as possible, so as to create a story that’s believable and feels natural.

People are often obsessed with fantasy – whether dramatic, imaginative, or simply realistic but different. Photography creates a mood, tells a story, and engages the viewer to use their imagination into what’s going on.

Photos that are great on a technical level are still limited in what they offer. An image that’s technically great is following all the rules, and “often” provides nothing new or insightful. It’s the photos that break the rules (or border on it) that often provide that spark of something being interesting because it’s different. Photography that is too creative (or trying to hard to be different) may be difficult to understand or connect with.

For me, photography is more about feeling; I try really not to over-think it. When in doubt, just take a lot of photos and choose which ones are worthwhile later. There are too many things to think about when creating an image, so experience is really the best teacher. I find it the same with music – or any art really. I haven’t learned how to play the guitar or bass on a technical level, but I can still play them. I’ve heard that my style of playing is quite unique, and that’s the way I like it.

Creating a mood, being yourself, and tell a story – it works on all forms of art. Art isn’t a technical process, but works best when you let your personality shine through. Nuances and idiosyncrasies are often what create greatness. Anything that tries to imitate within that same vein of greatness won’t find true success - you can’t copy the original.

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