Why am I a lifestyle photographer
What is lifestyle photography? How I define it
You have probably heard photographers call them self-lifestyle photographers but don’t know what that actual means. Well, you’re not alone lifestyle photography is an industry term, and most clients have no clue what that is. Every photographer has their own way of defining the term. Here is how I like to define lifestyle photography. For me it’s a mix of the classic portrait photography and documentary photography. In classic portrait photography you normally place the subject in a controlled environment having them look directly at the camera. Where in documentary photography the subject is never looking at the camera. Imagine someone capturing your daily life without you knowing they are there. That brings us to Lifestyle photography for me a perfect middle ground of both. I love it because I get to capture those up and close moments where direct contact with me and the camera happen and those intimate moments where my clients are connecting with each other.
Why do I prefer lifestyle photography?
Like I mentioned I love the middle ground of lifestyle photography. I love the emotion and the feeling of closeness I get when I capture a classic portrait. When my subject looks directly at me, I feel connected to them like I’ve known them for a long time. I feel like I’m capturing a unique side of them where they let me in to who they are for that split second it takes for me to capture the image. As much as I enjoy capturing the closeness of portraits, I equally enjoy the raw moments in the more documentary style. What I find special in this is the unique and real connections I capture. I love this because I capture real relationships and personalities. My clients are all so different they all show different displays of emotions to each other. It so fun photographing my clients as if I’m not there by asking them to play with each other or simply hug every family does it differently.
How do I pose?
The answer is I do but I don’t. You see I like to use a term called loose posing. which basically means I will ask you to get in a pose by say for example “get close hug each other” I will see how you naturally position yourself then move you around if I need to. The reason why I do this is because I don’t want every family or client to be the same. I want their unique personalities to be show cased each time. I will only make adjustments if something looks out of place for example hair in the face or awkward hands. I always want my sessions to be fun and playful. My posing style has a lot to do with why I’m a lifestyle photographer.
Connection over perfection
Another huge reason why I do this style of photography is because I prefer to capture connections over capturing the perfect photo. Realistically there is no such thing as perfection. Therefore, I don’t stress over my clients having the perfect outfits or placing them in perfect poses. I want my photos to provoke emotion when you look at them, the only way of doing this is by capturing real and raw connections with my clients.