The other day I listened to Nick Page on the Portrait Sessions podcast that is part of the Improved Photography Network and he took questions from the Facebook group to answer during that particular podcast. There were a number of questions that were asked, but the one that stood out the most to me was when someone asked him what his favorite type of photography was. Before I go any further let me give you a bit of background on Nick Page so that you can understand his answer. Nick Page is an amazing photographer from the Walla Walla, Washington. He does landscapes, senior portraits, weddings, well pretty much you name it he does it. So with this in mind here was his answer to the question. He said that he loves landscapes and that is by far his favorite, however landscape photography does not pay the bills. He also gets bored quickly and when that happens he starts to nit pick about the lighting and will only go out at certain times, and makes life very difficult for himself. However by opening up and shooting many different areas of photography he does not give himself the chance to get bored and from what I understood he uses the landscape photography as his "me time". I love this about Nick and the other photographers that are out there are using multiple out lets of photography but are finding ways to blend them together and making incredible images.
As a photographer I think that it is important to shoot more then one particular genre. Some would disagree but let's think about this for a moment. If you are a portrait photographer what would you be bringing to the table making a small leap to lets say sports photography? Yes there is a learning curve. There are more things to think about and there are things that are out of your control, such as lighting and posing, however what is that going to force you to do? It is going to force you to think outside of the box. Are you going to nail every single shot, no. However it is going to help you learn new skills. With these new skills that you have learned you can now take them back and potentially apply them in some way to your portrait work. Or maybe the other way around. Here is an example. This is a shot from one of my senior sessions.
This is a beautiful young lady in a perfect environment. I really only had to do minor things with this to make it work. However there are places that this one session took me. I showed several of these photos to some of the parents on a wrestling team. The wrestling team at the local high school does not always get the recognition or the things they need. For the most part they are very under supported. So I was asked by the booster club to shoot the team photos and individual photos of the wrestlers. Which then led to photos like this,
The parents love the photos. Are they perfect? In my opinion no. However I learned a lot. For example The background that is used for this particular photo I built in Photoshop! If you would like to read that article How to Create your own background in photoshop. In the article I explain how I slowly built three different backgrounds because I was not happy with what I had to work with.
Now I will admit that I would have never shown the photo had my son not been on the wrestling team, so as you know there is always more to the story. I have also done more for the team since doing their team photos. We have taken some action shots for the senior banner for senior night, and we have also taken some photos to create some keepsakes for the seniors as this is their last season as wrestlers before they head off to college or the military.
I have loved bouncing from pet photography to seniors to family to team to sports photography. It has kept me on my toes and it is forcing me every day to learn. The same as it does for any other photographer that does the same. It also helps you develop a style I believe. As I have looked at more photographers work that do the same thing there is a running theme. It does not seem to matter if they are shooting landscape or sports they are finding ways to edit in the same way. Which is leaving their mark so to speak. It is a way of knowing that is there photo because there is no one else out there that edits exactly like thy do. I will admit that I am still working to find that in my work as some of mine is dark and moody while other shots are very bright and happy. However that could all just be me too.
I do not believe that it is wise to limit yourself to being just a newborn photographer, or just a wedding photographer. Branch out, try new things, and learn from them. It will improve your photography overall in my humble opinion. I know that it is helping me learn a number of things that I do not think I would have ever taken the time to learn if I was not shooting in different genres.
How do you feel about shooting in different genres of photography? Is it helpful, or doe it hurt the photographer? Please leave your opinion in the comments below.
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Looking forward to hearing from each and every one of you!