A Photographer Should Be In Every Photograph

Team Building at Luke Photography.
This is where I literally and figuratively put myself into my photography.

I saw a question recently that struck home with me….and I think the answer should be blatantly obvious to anyone in any creative field.

“What’s more important as a photographer… to remove yourself from the photograph, or to make the photograph about you as a photographer?”  - fashion photographer Jay McLaughlin

Let me give you my opinion by asking another question: As a photographer, how can you ‘not’ put your head, heart and soul into the photographs you take?  Would you ask the same question of a fashion designer, or a painter?  I will bet you my right arm…which is the one I take all my photographs with…that anyone involved in a creative endeavor, whether they are an author, painter, clothing designer, architect… “has” to put themselves in every piece that they create.  How else can you create drama or impact, or expect your work to be recognized and remembered?  I think it is critical that some piece of you is left in everything that you make.  Regardless of whether you are a fine art or fashion photographer, a photojournalist, or a portrait or wedding photographer.

Try taking a photograph that no one else would have thought of. 

Look at something from a different angle.

Completely change your lighting.

Do something that makes people stop and take notice.

True, you can walk the safe line. People that do this call it “designing for the masses”.  But let me ask you this: when was the last time anything that was considered ‘safe” caught your eye?  Do you really remember anything that was designed for the masses?  Does anyone say "Wow!" at boring art?

I know that, during sessions with my clients, there are moments that I get safe and create pedestrian images.  We all do it….just to make sure we get “something”. But I also know that the images that I like the most are the ones where I’ve pushed myself (and sometimes my subject) a little further…bled a little more…and left a little bit of myself in the image.  And odds are, those are the same images that resonate most with the clients.