switching it up

I miss the days when my blog & portfolio were one in the same site. Although it was confusing to newcomers, it made blogging on a really regular basis super simple. My busy season will be coming to an end in a couple of months, and I’m really looking forward to blogging more. About my work, my dogs, and of course, my hair; it’s fun for me, it’s a nice creative outlet that I don’t get from just shooting.

Shooting: that brings up another thought. When I first started my business and really started to look for new clients, I read all the magazines, watched all the DVDs and opened every one of those annoying emails from some bridal company that was telling me how to increase my exposure, get new work, blahbety blah blah. Getting some ideas from others in the field is a great idea, but when I read too much of that stuff, it starts to work on my subconscious, and I’ll start shooting differently. Differently than I used to, but sort of the same as everyone else.

That is coming to a halt right now. There are a couple of things about my work that distinguished it from other photographers’ from the get-go (let me emphasize different, not better). First and foremost is probably my choice of lens for a wedding: I like the wide, I used my wide as my “go-to” lens for so much back then (and if you want to talk way back, when I had my Rebel I used a 14mm wide, and man, do I miss that lens). As I became more immersed in pro forums and articles about how to expand a business I found myself not using the wide as often; I found myself using the same technique a lot of other people and my trademark look was suffering.

Anyway, where am I going with all this? Well, for now, I’m tell you up front that I favor the wide and if I’m going to shoot your wedding I’m going to shoot it, for the most part, wide. Yeah, I have the zoom and the telephoto and the so-gorgeous-it-should-be-illegal 85mm for your portraits, but I love the perspective and context that a 16mm lens can give me. A wide angle lens at a wedding is, to me, the art of storytelling. It’s the essence of photojournalism.

I’m also going back to processing for art, not for business. I’m not a huge fan of the yellowed vintage stuff that’s been hot for the past couple of years (has that trend peaked yet? I hope so) but I’ll do it when it’s appropriate. My processing is always, always, based on the vibe of the event I’m shooting. It’s not “a look” that you can find in all the bridal magazines. I like to mix it up, be creative, make it unique to each couple and match their personalities. I don’t think I ever completely stopped doing these things (in fact I know I haven’t), but I’ve done it less often than I used to, and that is another thing that’s stopping.

So this is my not-really-random thought for the day; and to kick off this whole “going back to my roots” thing I’m posting this photo of Amy & Chris that I took today for their e-session. It was hot as balls in downtown LA; we were all sweating like mad, but we got some great stuff and I’ve been home barely a few hours but already having a blast processing for them.

Ironically, it’s not wide. Ha!