Recently I have made some changes to my photography business which involved a more focused intent to chase my desire to be a better portrait photographer. The pandemic was a wakeup call to a lot of folks and as time moves on it seems as if normal will really not be normal again. So I started thinking about the need to re-invent what I am doing with my photography and take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of me.
First and foremost I needed to focus on what I really wanted to do…which is portrait photography. I realized I love working with people and having families and people in front of my camera was really the way to go.
This website received a major re-fresh and is now based solely on my portrait and family work. But what to do with all of my landscape and other images? Luckily I still maintained an older website over on Smug Mug and it just made sense to move a body of work over there. The dilemma of course is to figure out what work goes over and what work just gets left on one of the many external hard drives I have.
The opportunity was a wonderful chance to re-visit some older landscape work I had once been proud of but long forgot it was there. My move to Halifax and the fact that it is a coastal city was not just a coincidence. My wife and I are ocean people…love being near, in, and on the water. It made the culling process much easier. I now have a very expanded Coastal body of work that means more to me than it did before because now…it is something I get to see and do almost any day I want…..and I am so grateful I can.
The Atlantic Provinces offer up a true smorgasbord of photographic opportunity and I will take full advantage of it…..assuming the new normal going forward allows it to happen. The joy for me is in the fact that I can now incorporate the landscape I love into the portrait work I so enjoy. Now…..some of you who know my history of living in Alberta might question my sanity…why wouldn’t you use one of the best backdrops every presented to man in your portrait work? After all the mountains are a pretty amazing chunk of rock. The difference is that the coastline here in Halifax is too close to pass up. It’s not 90 minutes away…it’s 5 minutes away. I have found countless locations that offer both landscape and portrait opportunity and they are all within 30 minutes of my home. Yes…….I am a lazy photographer.
When I started looking back over my collection of landscape images I realized that the great majority of them were coastal in nature….be it Newfoundland, PEI, Nova Scotia or BC …I had amassed a great many images and they needed to be re-visited, re-edited and re-discovered.
The process has been rewarding. Some of the older images were overlooked due to my lack of editing skills at the time but now with fearless abandon…I have updated the edits and salvaged some images that I knew were good compositionally but just needed that little boost from a good edit.
Being in yet another lockdown here on the east coast has allowed me to take the time to really take a look at what I want my photography to be. It is a reflection of who I am and I for one are extremely lucky I discovered the passion before time was not on my side. I am no longer hesitant when asked what I do now. Telling people I was a photographer in the past was never done with conviction or confidence but now things are different and I hand out my calling card at any opportunity.
If I learned anything from this exercise it’s that looking back can help focus you on where you need to be going forward. Learn from the past and embrace the now so you can learn to love the tomorrow!
If you care to…stop over at my other site https://www.spiritphotography.ca/ and check things out!
