Chase Jarvis has been a great friend/mentor to me. In addition to his mad photography skills, his business skills are highly impressive. We’ve had some great photography talks over playing ping pong in the parks of Paris in my Parisen residence days a couple years ago. (say that 10 times fast). He just did an interview podcast on studiolighting.net and in it he talks about Stylized Authenticity, something I’ve thought about that I could never put into words.
Stylized Authenticity- taking something normal and putting your own style or twist to it. It’s an inspiration to when shooting put your style tweak on the image, whether that be in camera or in post production. In any case, you should always be striving to find and create your own personal style, not just shoot what everyone wants. If you stick true to your visual style and photographic vision, in the end, clients will hire you just for that. That in itself is a rewarding feeling. It takes takes a lot of time and perseverance when starting, but it’s more rewarding in the end. Show and shoot what you want to ultimately be shooting.
Nick, thanks for the reminder! I think sometimes we start to hear everyone else’s voices in our heads about what they like or what they want and we can easily forget OUR style! Getting lost in the masses is easy! Choosing to be true to your style takes more work. However, the rewards are far greater!