I am a consumer of information. I am always trying to stuff my head with new knowledge. With the internet, it gets overwhelming. I am always trying to better my photography... trying to better my shooting, my processing, my business skills... the amount of learning resources are almost limitless. It makes someone like me a little overwhelmed and stressed because I would really like to consume as much of it as possible. There just aren't enough hours in the day!
Today I stumbled across Don Gianatti's Project 52 and decided it was a great challenge for me to take on this year. The first challenge was to write your vision statement. Don's point in doing this as the first assignment is the idea that clarifying your direction and goals will help you focus your photography and really refine those skills that will get you closer to where you want to be. Earlier this year, after participating in another workshop, I was challenged to come up with 3 words to descibe me and my work. I came up with Real, Relaxed and Refreshing. I figured this was a good starting point to come up with my vision statement.
What IS my vision statement? How would I describe my goals with my photography. It is easy to say that I want to create beautiful pictures for my clients. Duh! If you are trying to do this professionally, THAT is a given! So I started to think about what I strive for... How I want my art to be perceived.
I strive to capture emotional images. In my mind there are documentary photos and emotional photos. The documentary photos are things like school photos, passport photos and church directory photos. "Stand here. smile. snap." They document what someone looked like at that particular moment in time, which is great and necessary, but not what I want to be known for. I want to be known for REFRESHING, unexpected images.
There are so many people who dread having their picture taken. You say photographer and they think stuffy studio with a hard metal stool and turning their head to some unnatural angle. That is not what I want to be known for. I want people to be RELAXED. I love shooting people in settings of their choosing. I am always striving to find ways to help people assume comfortable, natural poses that also help them to look their best.
I want to be able to capture REAL emotion. There are lots of photographers that have a huge storehouse of amazing props and fun costumes. Although I will make some use of these, I want my images to focus more on the subject and less on the extras. There are photographers, primarily commercial photographers, that create these fantastic creations that take hours to plan out and set up. I love to look at these, but it doesn't fit my personality style. My favorite images are pretty simple, but I love it when I capture someone's personality.
Now how do I refine this into a stong vision statement? Hmmm....
I capture distinct moments in your life and the emotion that surrounds them.
Now I just need to strive to do it better!
--Gretchen Blairmy photography blog... gblairphotography.com
