When you think about unique photography, what do you think of? What is it exactly that makes one photograph unique in comparison to another? I’ll give you my take on it, and if it resonates with you….we should go have coffee!
When you think back on your life, what are the memories that give you butterflies and put an involuntary smile on your face? What are the thoughts that you like to linger in and dwell on; The ones that you dream about, and then when you wake up you want to go back to sleep so you can stay there just a liiiiiitle longer? For the lucky ones...we have these moments stored up in our minds and in our hearts. How thankful I am for these! I loooove to linger there, and I also love to linger in thoughts about the current parts of my life where I find Love and Beauty. Not only is it just a really pleasant practice of gratitude, but I theorize that it’s also extremely good for your skin; it makes a person glow!
This is, in part, why I love what I do, and why I choose to conduct my business in certain ways that may seem unorthodox (which is kind of a synonym for unique??). It’s my business to capture these things like fireflies in a jar, but I have to get people to light up. When I meet a family for a photo session, my aim is for it to be more like a set go minutes set aside for gratitude and love and less like a “say cheese” kind of thing. I want to draw out from people these things we talked about above. It’s funny how such a big emotion like Love can be incited by the most minuscule things: The way your little girl twirls her hair when she’s sleepy might stir up that butterfly nest in your stomach, your partner’s smile being crooked on the left side might do it, or the memory of that wonderfully hidden cafe in Italy you stumbled into by chance might light the fireflies for you.
Here are some of mine: My husband mouths the words along with the movie we’re watching because he’s so wrapped up in the story (ugh! It makes me smile right now!), he makes up songs about everyday things we’re doing (and they’re good songs!), we saw magnificent landscapes in far off places together this summer, and my dog (Ranger) likes to stare at us while we’re sitting and talking like he’s trying to understand what we’re saying so he can interject. These are all snapshots in my mind of my Love for my family and my life with them (of which I only get ONE); some of the snapshots are grand, and some so very small.
These are things that are unique to my life and my heart. No one will ever have the same ones, and that makes them even more valuable. If you can capture this stuff in a photo….that’s as unique as it gets...and it’s not just you that will see it.
The reason you perceive that a photo is unique is because it tells a story, and makes you feel something. What if it’s your story in the photo? These are the things I want to turn into art and display in my house to make it a home. I want us to be surrounded by our Love for one another in every way possible, and one of the ways I can do that is with photography.
To review: What creates unique photography? Unique photography tells a story and makes you feel something. Each of us is telling a story with our life that will NEVER be told again. Get it in a photo.
SO….should we go get coffee together?!
