086/365
January 30, 2016
St. George, ME, USA
Today was very relaxing after a busy last week. On the way back home we talked about how you have to keep a certain distance to any form of outside pressure or expectations if you would like to continue to develop artistically. I've made the experience a few years back when I started to shoot more B&W that people who really liked my work verbalized to me that they cannot connect to my photography if it's not in color.
That was difficult for me at first, because I never particularly liked B&W photography myself until then and made it a point to shoot it almost exclusively for 6 months. But I learned so much during a relatively short time period and grew to love it. This very learning experience fundamentally changed how I approach a shot in general and also how I see - light, composition, form, texture - but also color. A big lesson learned was that a good picture needs to work in B&W even if you don't shoot it in B&W and that a lot of things you can do with B&W will not work with color, therefore you don't ever lose a shot when shooting B&W. B&W only ever adds, it never takes anything away from your color work.
I know so many people in the wedding industry who are scared to death by client expectations and don't dare to shoot something that's not in line with a current popular style. Unthinkable how my work would look like today if I hadn't kept doing what I felt was right for me at that time, disconnected from what the outside might feel about what I'm doing.