the not-so-bridal bridal shoot
By Mrs T
20 November 2007
I am an artist before anything. Before working for others, before pleasing others, before providing a routine and mundane service... I am an artist and I work for myself.
When you boil down art whether it is photography, painting, music, poetry... it will exist even if no one is around to experience it. As artists we must create and fulfill ourselves in some form long before anyone else can see/feel/hear it. I will not deny that artists create for their audiences or with their audiences in mind but I feel if you lose the sense of self-fulfillment, you lose purpose in your work and you become something else. The artist is lost.
I have been a portrait and wedding photographer for three years and I have experienced the lack of my own art in my work before. It is an empty feeling and the quality of the work is poor. It is no longer art to me when I create only for others. It is snapshots. Something anyone with a camera and a finger can capture.
Recently the opportunity to bring back my art into my portraiture and wedding photography became a reality. I had a willing model, ten hours and the world at my fingertips. She was willing to work with me (and my husband/business partner) and we all created amazing art together for a day. We ignored the beautiful and the safe, the simple and the expected. We pushed and we struggled to step outside the box and create something I'm not used to creating as a portrait photographer. We created art for arts sake and for nothing else. It was amazing.
I want to ask all of you that do portraiture or any other photography or art that involves a client... bring yourself, bring your voice, bring your ideas and fulfill the artist in you before you try to please the world. Don't get lost in trying to please everyone around you, you will regret it when you look back at what was at your fingertips. Grab it when you can and go!
