Timeless Photography

I recently sat down with a potential client, and as I was describing my philosophy regarding my work, I used the word timeless. I want my photography to not only impress my clients and their family and friends right now but also inspire their family for many generations. Of course, it’s impossible for photos to avoid a “dated” look–but I want my photography to look dated only for the subject matter–not the style.

With digital photography, it’s all that easier to manipulate images–using textures, sepia tones, faded highlights, selective coloring, etc. While I think you can create some cool pictures with these recent trends, I think a lot of the stuff will look very dated in a few years. So, I tend to stick with the basics–beautiful colors, simple black and whites, and good composition. First and foremost, I want people to see the joy, excitement, and emotion of the subjects in my photos. I want their kids to be able to stumble across their wedding album and fall in love with how in love their parents were. Not exclaim–“oh Mom, I can’t believe your photographer used textures on all your photos!”

Speaking of timeless photography, the other day I stumbled across this site My Parents Were Awesome, which is a collection of self-submitted photos of–you guessed it–parents. I immediately thought of a photo of my Mom that I absolutely love. It captures my Mom’s youthfulness and sense of humor long before I was around. This photo is TIMELESS. (She’s the one on the right with the hose).