My one big goal this year is to try to think differently about how I see the world through my lens. After five years of photographing weddings (and close to a decade as a professional photographer), I can pretty much shoot a wedding with my eyes closed, but I never want to become lax with my artistic vision. My camera has become an extension of my body; I no longer have to think about my aperture or shutter speed when I’m in the moment. I’ve become good enough with my skills that I can just exist and shoot and capture beautiful moments.
But for me, that’s not good enough. I became a photographer because I always wanted to be an artist, but I couldn’t paint. I always wanted to be a musician, but I couldn’t play guitar well enough. I spent a decade photographing musicians and never once considered it an art form; I just thought I was capturing memories (souvenirs, if you will) of a moment in time. It wasn’t until I began documenting events with my Canon 30D that I truly understood the art behind the images. Seeing my work on clients’ walls made me realize that what I was doing really was art.
In 2014, I’ve made it a point to try something new at every wedding or engagement session, to challenge myself and try to leave my comfort zone. Sometimes these images work out well; other times I’m not quite sure. Luckily, I have amazing couples that trust me to be different and take the time to create art work that might be insane, and hopefully a tad bit brilliant. Here’s one image of Lisa and Chris’ engagement session at Storm King that I staged last week. I struggled with the light, which danced in and out of the clouds, but I think I captured what I saw in my mind’s eye. Chris is taking a selfie while Lisa sits quietly, looking over the hills of the massive sculpture park. I’m sure there’s some hidden meaning to all this, but the truth is, I just wanted to do something that I hadn’t done before.
