This is my personal work. All stitched, 30 megapixels plus on average. Gives me satisfaction. I'd prefer that this was my legacy when I go rather than wedding work
Landscapes, my 2 year old nephew and essentially taking a camera everywhere with me....went to a Halloween party and couldn't just have a few drinks and socialise.....
MPLS_photog wrote:
I think you are over thinking things. Just photograph your passion. Sometimes you can combine your passion and make it a smart business choice. Chase Jarvis is an example of that. He financed a photoshoot of ninjas because he likes ninjas, and it ended up paying off because of the attention he received. Anyone can do the same thing on a smaller scale.
The phrase "personal work" has two different meanings in our field and that is confusing some of you who are critiquing the OP's post rather than providing fruitful responses. "Personal work" to most high end commercial/advertising photographers means self-financing production to produce portfolio materials to promote yourself within the industry, to capture visual concepts (at great financial expense) to demonstrate your vision and/or capabilities. Now on the other hand the mom-and-pop wedding photographer who like to go out and take pictures of trees on his day off would consider that "personal work". Both are valid, just depends on who you are as a professional.
TRReichman wrote:
Still looking at how folks are indulging themselves creatively and how exactly they are using the work that they do. Wondering still how you find the impulse, time and focus to take photos outside your business responsibilities.
thanks
- trr
I think this is a valid point. It really depends on where you are right now, how busy you are, and where you want to be. We are very busy with weddings (first year and we have 13 - and 7 of them were within a two-month span). But I would go crazy if all I shot were weddings. The personal projects I have in mind are for three purposes:
1) to hash out new ideas and spark my creativity
2) to better my photography through focused work on lighting, composition, posing, etc.
2) to create photos that attract a certain clientele
I make time for personal shoots because it is really important to me to shoot something I love. And while I enjoy shooting weddings, I often feel like there isn't enough time to hash out some of my portrait concepts. Matt and I LOVE spending time with the couple - and we don't get that time at a wedding. We would make an entire site devoted to engagement shoots and day after shoots if that was possible.
We have two shoots on the drawing board right now that we will be using for next year's marketing. They won't come at great personal expense, but they will take up quite a bit of time, and some money. Most of all, they will help us work through different types of shoots and create imagery that we will use to attract clients who want a certain "feel" to their photography. We're picky about who we shoot with, so we want to create imagery that attracts the right client. While we won't be using some of these shoots on our website, it will give us the chance to work through this type of shoot and it will give us excellent blog ideas. I find posing and directing challenging at times, and I use these shoots to really hash it out.
ChrisDM wrote:
The phrase "personal work" has two different meanings in our field and that is confusing some of you who are critiquing the OP's post rather than providing fruitful responses. "Personal work" to most high end commercial/advertising photographers means self-financing production to produce portfolio materials to promote yourself within the industry, to capture visual concepts (at great financial expense) to demonstrate your vision and/or capabilities. Now on the other hand the mom-and-pop wedding photographer who like to go out and take pictures of trees on his day off would consider that "personal work". Both are valid, just depends on who you are as a professional. ...Show more →
This is kind of what I was interested in. I know some people take alot of incidental or specific shots of their personal life. I am thinking more about structured artistic work with some sort of intended purpose. Or an ongoing theme or motif in personal work and what it means to your life/business/development, etc.
DB wrote:
I think this is a valid point. It really depends on where you are right now, how busy you are, and where you want to be. We are very busy with weddings (first year and we have 13 - and 7 of them were within a two-month span). But I would go crazy if all I shot were weddings. The personal projects I have in mind are for three purposes:
1) to hash out new ideas and spark my creativity
2) to better my photography through focused work on lighting, composition, posing, etc.
2) to create photos that attract a certain clientele
I make time for personal shoots because it is really important to me to shoot something I love. And while I enjoy shooting weddings, I often feel like there isn't enough time to hash out some of my portrait concepts. Matt and I LOVE spending time with the couple - and we don't get that time at a wedding. We would make an entire site devoted to engagement shoots and day after shoots if that was possible.
We have two shoots on the drawing board right now that we will be using for next year's marketing. They won't come at great personal expense, but they will take up quite a bit of time, and some money. Most of all, they will help us work through different types of shoots and create imagery that we will use to attract clients who want a certain "feel" to their photography. We're picky about who we shoot with, so we want to create imagery that attracts the right client. While we won't be using some of these shoots on our website, it will give us the chance to work through this type of shoot and it will give us excellent blog ideas. I find posing and directing challenging at times, and I use these shoots to really hash it out. ...Show more →
I'm interested in this take too - how many people feel they don't get to do the things they want to do in their paid work? How much do the personally developed sessions that folks do end up directly impacting their business? I still sort of struggle with what to do with any work that you would shoot, but again as Deb said it comes down to time sometimes and we're so busy with work that the idea of doing the post on anything else seems crazy. I'm not dismissing it though, I really want to understand and find ways to grow.
spink wrote:
Curious, what makes you ask this question Todd? Also, what floats your boat?
I'm trying to learn to be a better person and a better photographer. Most days I am failing. I'm trying to learn what it seems most of you already have figured out. Trying to discover whether I am a filthy capitalist pig as Dmitri says () or whether there is some value beyond that. You know, trying to get it.
thanks, other opinions or examples still appreciated.
