The pondering of a photographer

"A good photographer doesn't take great photos, they make great photos." -This is something I was thinking about as I read a photography business book. As a photographer who has been in the business for four years now, I am starting to really understand the meaning of this. There are the photos that capture THE MOMENT perfectly and that every photographer should do and be aware of, but every person with a camera has the opportunity to capture THE MOMENT as well. It is a game of chance as well as skill. Good photographers know to look to capture that moment no matter what is happening, but does that make a person a great photographer? If anyone with a camera can catch that same moment, what makes a photographer different than say Uncle Bob?

This is where that quote comes into play...a quality photographer is someone who not only knows how and when to capture THE MOMENT, but someone who can create magic on their own. They are not limited to just an outside view of the event, only able to capture what they see. They should transform a person or place with thier vision. A great photographer changes the pumpkin into the carriage and the mice into horses. They make cinderella a princess by the vision and life that they bring into a photo. Location should not matter, what a person looks like should not matter, beauty is from within... and if a photographer cannot see and capture that, than I believe they are in the wrong profession!

I want my clients to be able to see themselves in a way that they never envisioned themselves before. I want to capture the beauty within their features, yes, but most of all from within their souls! This is my passion! Every person at one time or another has had some struggle with how they look, feeling like they don't measure up or can never be good enough. But, I want to be able to show every person that they are perfect just the way they are! (And no, that does not mean that I use a ton of photoshop to make them that way!) I believe that beauty is within each one of us, and that there is a special way to capture each and every thing that I photograph. I don't want to ever just take great photos, I want to use this vision of beauty that I have to make the best photos that I possibly can! To pour my whole heart and soul into my work and show the world my vision and the beauty that I see all around me!

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He makes everything beautiful in its time." God has made EVERYTHING beautiful, and I want to be sure to see and capture a small part of that extraordinary beauty inside each one of us to share with the world. I may not have a magic wand, but I have a gift that God has given me and I am going to use it to the best of my ability in all that I do!