When I first started out as a photographer I just wanted to shoot Food and Beverage. I was sort of nervous about photographing people and in retrospect it’s probably because I didn’t really know what I was doing yet. With a discipline like photography you really have to get the technical stuff down so well that it basically takes care of itself. Composition, exposure, lighting and modifiers; all that stuff needs to be relegated pretty much to muscle memory to free up your mind for creative thinking, problem solving, building and maintaining a rapport with your subjects, collaborating with Art Directors, and making sure your client is getting what they need. Over the years I’ve gotten increasingly comfortable with photographing people to the point where I now prefer it. I still love shooting food but my 'voice' has developed in a way that seems to resonate most vividly when interacting with people, and this means I’m very comfortable shooting Lifestyle and Portraits.
This term 'Lifestyle' might seem a bit nebulous. Is it simply people doing things or merely just existing in front of a camera? Does it depict people using a thing or contemplating a state of being? Pushing themselves or serving others? Submitting to vulnerabilities? It’s any of these, really. It’s the act of being human, but with one caveat: by doing these things with purpose, in front of a camera, we’re aiming to touch people. Subject and photographer alike should be acutely aware of this throughout a production. This is why we’re maximizing the impact of our composition, our angles, our lighting, styling, wardrobe, and all the rest. It can’t be contrived or fake, even if it's staged, or - like an unemotional singer, or a phoned-in stage performance, or an uninspired chef - it’ll inevitably fall flat. In our society we're inundated with images 24/7. If my work doesn't genuinely emote, it'll never cut through all that noise.
These are some of my favorite, and I think most effective, Lifestyle images. Most were commissioned to be precisely that - Lifestyle photos created specifically to sell a client’s service or product - while a couple were editorial or personal work that I think fit the bill perfectly.
Have a look at these... and let's make some work together.