I recently watched a video that a wedding photographer had published about how they approached wedding photography and more crucially how it demonstrated this person interacted and communicated with their clients. The short video was aimed at promoting their business, however it made me laugh and then cringe! I couldn’t believe that in this day an age and with the way public opinion is turning away from ‘posed’ and cringe worthy pictures, how much control this photographer had over his/her clients and how little they had to say or even how much of the final images represented their personality. Not even 24 hours after seeing this video, I then came across a similar video, a shorter one, this time about portrait photography by a portrait photographer, this time a studio environment so perhaps a little more control was needed but it seemed a million miles away from how I would approach the task in hand.
Now obviously this is all subjective and what me and my clients, couples, families may like, others may not, however I can’t help but fear that these poor people don’t understand how the industry has changed in recent years and now what range is on offer – or perhaps this is the problem – too much choice and not enough information. Like most I like the odd ‘cheese’ picture, not that I think I have ever asked anyone to say such silly words, however the ways of old do have their place, on the other hand their are now more natural, documentary led styles of going about portrait photography or the term I like to use ‘lifestyle photography’.
It is true that recently I have not been heavy on the portrait photography scene and have been almost a 110% focused on the wedding industry, however natural progression of family status normally means I end up photographing new arrivals in families who’s wedding I have photographed and also catching up with past wedding couples for family lifestyle shoots, which is great fun and I always enjoy meeting up with past couples and photographing them once more. I also offer these shoots which I nickname ‘the adventure’ to anyone up for a family or couple oriented lifestyle shoot out in the wild South West, or even further afield.
My lifestyle shoots and my ethos or approach to portrait photography outside of the studio is all about me, as the photographer, both being apart of the activity in hand and an observer from the outside depending on the situation, but whatever the circumstances my one goal is to strive to make my pictures and your lasting reminders of this time in your life to be both genuine and timeless. Genuine in the sense that the images on the whole are natural, relaxed and ultimately you. Sometimes prompted in some loose way but certainly no hip out action. And timeless in the sense that everything is processed and originally photographed with the idea that the pictures shouldn’t have any particular traits of date stamps other than your appearance and knowledge of when. No ‘vintage’ look here. :)
For more information on my lifestyle shoots please see my portraits page here or contact me to arrange a shoot here.
Here are half a dozen frames with no cheese or hip action in sight. What do you think? – leave me a comment below.
-BW
