Knowing My Identity as a Photographer

I've been photographing professionally for six years now and it was never easy. Seeing that photographers are becoming a dime a dozen nowadays, it was never easy to stand out above the crowd. Just like hipsters who dare not to conform to the norm but now all look the same, I felt the same thing for photographers. You see thousands of images from photographers on Facebook, Instagram, the web,  and they all look the same. Only the best photographers stand above the pack. So I studied what made them stand out. My conclusion - they all have an identity.

As a photographer, finding one's identity is never easy. As Jerry Ghionis has thought me during my training with him, all photographers go through different stages in their career. They IMITATE, EMULATE and then INNOVATE. Newbie photogs imitate the images that inspire them. As they grow, they start to have their heroes. They emulate their heroes and their heroes' technique and style. As soon as they find their identity, they innovate their own work. 

I have been personally trained by two of the best photographers in the world, Peter Hurley (headshots) and Jerry Ghionis (portraits), who I have admired and became my heroes. I have emulated their technique and you will see their influence in my work. Months after rebranding (as per Jerry's advise), Bernie and I started to see our identity as a business. I honed on my skills on doing headshots and it became the bedrock of my personal technique. Peter mastered his technique from all the aspiring actors and models in New York. I have innovated his technique, put my personality to it and applied it to corporate and business people.

For me, the face is the most important part of a person's photo. If I cannot make them look good, then I've failed as a photographer. For me, it's never my client's responsibility to look good in their photo, it's mine. Peter thought me to make ordinary people look spectacular, not by fancy lighting or a well-done make up, but by bringing out their personality. This is not easy as people are very different from one another. But it has become my personal mission to bring this out to each and every headshot and portrait I do.  

A few months ago, I was rejected by a wedding prospect from our other brand Orlando Allan. She said that she liked how I photographed people's faces, but she opted for another photographer because the other photographer had a different approach. That opened my eyes to the fact that I do make people look good thanks to the inate skills I already have, which is now boosted further by BOTH Peter and Jerry's techniques.

Seeing the amount of blank, souless, out-to-lunch headshots and portraits here in New Zealand, I've got my work cut out for me. Before I can create an identity for my clients, I need to know my own. I now have found my identity, yes pun intended.