May 13, 20183 min read

I'll Admit it, I'm Inconsistent

You know what makes my Photography different? What makes my business and work unique in a very saturated market? I'm bold & challenge popular trend.

I like the look of original, I enjoy popular, but I also look to break into things others haven't yet.

Take my logo for instance. I know it looks odd that I didn't decide to go with a calligraphy signature of my name like most others. Maybe a little heart on the i and maybe a camera in there somewhere. Its just not me. I aim to be true to myself & honest with my clients.

So, I’ll admit it. I have no editing 'style'. I've racked my brain on what style of images are 'me' and I just can't pick one.

I read an article a few months ago, it stated that 1 of the 5 listed reasons a photographer fails at owning a photography business is due to a inconsistent editing style.

Some may believe that having no editing style is inconsistent. Well maybe I am, but why is that necessarily a bad thing? What in life is always consistent? I'd say there is very little. With every season you see a different popular filter on Instagram, a new catch phrase, a new clothing style. What do we know to be true about these things? They may be popular now, but come a week, month, or year from now & we’ll think oh that’s not what we want anymore. So as a photographer I am always changing, not only to what’s new but to also what is wanted of me.

What I do is more than just white light or moody, low contrast, high contrast, or slightly hazy. There is no one set style for me. While I tend to prefer real life light, high contrast for my own in-home images, that doesn’t mean my client does or that each situation would call for it. I often edit each client with the scenery, type of session, and settings in mind. I wouldn’t make a wedding dark and moody unless a client asked me to, and I wouldn’t make a Halloween image bright as day just because that’s my ‘style’.

So what I do is the tried and true first. I aim to shoot the images to be as realistic as possible. I straighten and tweak to ensure the scenery looks similar to the day they were taken. From there I will add popular editing styles to those same images. My clients always receive more than one style to choose from. ( Unless I was specifically asked for a certain type of editing style).

Take these images for instance. The popular imagery right now seems to be a sunset moodiness, but I always give a client the option of original style first.

Sometimes I throw in 3 or 4 different styles because I believe they all look amazing and couldn't possibly decide for my client.

Does that mean more work for me? Sure it does, but I want my clients to have options and not feel stuck with something that may have been popular this month but not when they receive the final image. I believe we'll always come back to the tried and true, realistic images, but life is about having fun, so why not print some moody images too!