My personal life and my professional life as a photographer are so intertwined that I’m not sure where one ends and the other begins. Photography has become a means both of expressing and understanding myself. In the words of Minor White, “All photographs are self-portraits.” So true.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently, trying to come up with a succinct way of defining both “who I am” and my photographic style. I’ve learned that having a good idea of your values and goals helps weed out all the unnecessary distractions. It also helps you focus a bit more sharply on your goals because you know what you want. (Yes, even my metaphors are photography based.)

I am constantly bookmarking blogs, flipping through magazines and following links and references on designers and photographers to read about. I enjoy following the trends, taking note of the marketing, and letting myself be inspired by the few out there that are doing something remarkable.

But occasionally, I get down about it all. Not only in the world of wedding and kid’s photography, but in many genres, it’s all become so trendy… everything looks the same and it’s all been done before.

I want to stand out, to represent something without being led by the masses. That’s a tall order in today’s world.

I think the old adage that “A camera does not make a photographer” should be updated to “An action/preset (in Photoshop/Lightroom) does not make a photographer”. In this open source world, nothing is sacred anymore. You hardly need an education, much less experience to claim you are a photographer.

It is the person behind the camera + the subject that = the photograph. Every photo is enriched when there is a story to go behind it, and so is every photographer. Here’s to a little soul searching today.