specialize | folsom senior portrait photographer

I am a huge fan of specializing in your work. With photography, I don’t think it’s always a good idea to be the jack of all trades. When I started I thought I had to do everything from newborns to families of 35 and possibly even weddings. I soon realized that what I was most passionate about just so happened to be the type of work that I was also the most skilled in. I fell in love with newborn, baby and child photography, and while I enjoyed high school senior sessions, I wasn’t sure if they fit with my desire to specialize.

I stopped pursuing the senior market and began to focus on my littler subjects. But when the school year started up again and I started receiving more senior portrait inquiries, I took them, knowing that I always enjoyed being able to play with light and photograph a subject that actually listened and took direction without having to bribe them with candy.

At Danielle’s session earlier this fall it all clicked for me. What I love is portrait work. Wikipedia’s definition sums up my vision for my photography and my business perfectly. A portrait “is an artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer.”

This is what I love to photograph. While some photographers adore elaborate scenes or love capturing the interaction between family members, what I really get excited about is an engaging portrait–one where  you can experience real eye contact and real emotion. So whether it be a newborn image where you can almost feel that newborn baby skin or a senior session where you are taken back to that excitement of being a teenager on the brink of adulthood, portrait work is where my heart is and I hope it shows.