It’s hard to put into words why I love (and am obsessed) with taking photos. But not just photos. I really love taking photos of PEOPLE, of faces, of personalities… When I look at someone, I feel like I see their best self, their future self, like all their dreams have already come true. It is written. (this sometimes gets me into trouble, especially when it comes to dating 😉 so don’t be too jealous of this “gift”)
I feel like I also see myself in everyone, I see my face in every other face, I feel like I can sort of step inside people, and see them in their most beautiful mask, or lack of mask rather. And I feel like I see so many faces in one face. The childhood friend or movie star they remind me of. Each client a “hero with a thousand faces” a book title I always loved, and the concepts in the Joseph Campbell book I think apply so much to what I do. Of course I also take photos of places and things and cars and food and clouds, and I do enjoy that… but I often don’t know HOW to photograph a place without putting a person in that place, so I will often set up “camp” at a certain setting and just wait for someone to walk into the part of the frame where I would place a client. Sometimes I get caught! I think I also love people and their faces and their beings, because I think my first loves were two-fold: making colorful art in paintings and drawings, and being totally in love with movies and the stories that they tell, the archetypes they explore…the arcs that the heroes make from flawed to enlightened…How you get to see the main character come alive, wake up, drop their mask, step up to the plate…and so I try to feel and live this arc and bring it out in my client. This is why I don’t miss acting! Everyone always asks me if I miss it. I did it a long time, was pretty into, had some success, and wasn’t awful at, was sometimes even great at it. But the reason I went into acting was feeling and experiencing this arc, this shift, transformation, change, elevation, whatever you want to call it. So I feel like I get the best parts of acting when I am photographing people. I get to be the watcher, the visionary, the scene partner, the art director, the director, the story editor, the lighting guy, the location scout…and even though I am “the boss” I actually even love making coffee for people.
Where I am was not planned. This was an accident in large part, but now it all makes sense and seems predestined, even though I felt like I was wading through confusing struggling muck. Trust that the muck knows. Or The muck is in your head. Leap. Trust. Experiment. Go for it. Fake it till you make it. Steal ideas. Break the rules.
Please do reach out to book a call for personal branding photos or a lifestyle shoot in Los Angeles, NYC or Europe. Get in touch with me and let’s talk about the possibilities of a future you! You can contact me by clicking on this link
