Slice of Life. Photojournalism. Lifestyle Photography. What exactly is it? I daresay, it’s different things to different people. But to me? Within my own family, it’s quite elementary: lifestyle photography is simply taking pictures of my family doing what they do.
It’s not setting up a shot.
It’s not asking anyone to look at me.
It’s not asking anyone to look away from me (smirk).
It’s not POSING anyone in any way, shape, form.
It’s not tidy-ing the surrounding first. In fact, it embraces the details in the mess.
It’s simply, only, documenting a moment happening (for real!!) with a photograph. That’s it.
When I’m taking pictures for clients, I’m aspiring to the same level of authenticity as my own family pictures. The difference being, that since I don’t live with my clients, I don’t have the luxury of waiting indefinitely for the moments to unfurl as they may. A “lifestyle” session may last for a day or even just a couple hours. However, I do still have similar personal standards for lifestyle photography with my clients: no POSING, no “styling” (I realize this standard of mine would make some photographers gasp in shock & horror), no asking that anyone look at me and smile …
You see, photojournalistic type photos are really truly NOT about me or my vision …
… lifestyle images are ALL about the person/people being photographed. I’m far more interested in my clients being completely aware of each other and not so aware of me…
Because, at the end of the day, my ultimate goal is that my clients recognize themselves & their history, their story, their love, in the images we capture together.
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