I get a lot of e-mails. I get e-mails from clients, from clients to be, from friends, from colleagues and, once in a while, from friends and colleagues I don’t know yet. Today I got one of those and I thought, why not publish my answers here for you all to read. Her name is Aleksandra, she is a fellow photographer and she asked me five questions. Here is my attempt to give my short but personal answers.
1. What inspires me? I am simple. I’m inspired by positive emotions and beauty. How the word beauty is defined is a completely different question but everything that has some kind of positive energy gives me extra inspiration. Do you find a lot of those things at a wedding? Well, now you all know why I am a wedding addict!
2. What makes a photograph good? I truly don’t think that there’s just one answer to that question, not even for me. A photo can be good because it shows a person’s personality, it captures a moment, it creates an artistic view of a small detail, it enhances the beauty of a person, it shows emotions between people (this is important!), it evokes a reaction, it is technically perfect using interesting light and the perfect depth of field for that specific motive or why not all of the above. I admit that I think it’s important that the clients I photograph simply think that they look good, but that’s not the whole answer. I go to myself and ask, what do I look for in a picture of me and yes…. I am a bit vain even though I don’t look like a picture perfect model.
An example of a photo I love? Well, here is a photo of a the bride Pernilla helping her mother with her makeup before Pernilla's wedding.
3. What character qualities should the photographer nurture? Curiosity, inspiration and a strive to create something he or she is proud of. In addition to that, like in any client based work, a photographer needs to be able to balance the artistic creativity with a very clear focus on what the clients want and to be service minded. And talking about clients, I think every photographer should think about his or her own personality and what kind of clients he or she wants to attract. Be true to yourself and you will get clients that love you for what you are and the style you have!
4. What is your advice for the aspiring photographer? Be prepared to work hard, be very client focused (one really happy customer will give you a lot more credit that 5 that are just “satisfied”) and don’t fall into the trap to take too much inspiration from other photographers within the same business. Don’t underestimate your own work and time and take wisdom from that if you are and act confident, the clients will trust you more than if you don’t believe in yourself and your work.
So, now you have my short answers and I hope it also gave a bit more information about who I am and how I work.
All photos above are from a very special wedding, my friend Pernilla's wedding when she said "I do" to her Tor Harald. I wasn't the official photographer but I came along for the photo shoot with Jenny Hammar after the wedding. I will post more of the portraits later but this is all for now.