Shutter Sisters

newfound identity

By

“We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.” Kahlil Gibran

The other day, I was having a conversation with a photographer friend and she said to me: “I am a recorder. That is what I do. I document my life.” That thought stayed with me and I began to wonder… Who am I as a photographer?

Have you ever asked yourself this question?

After going through all my photos in search of my identity, I came across the image above and I knew immediately: That’s it. I am a photographer on a quest for beauty. Whether I am shooting a client, a model or my lunch, what drives me is beauty. Some days that beauty comes to me as a gift and on other days, I have to look a little closer, dig a little deeper, even stage it. But I never tire looking for it and it never fails me. No matter what, somehow beauty is always there to lift me up and teach me something about myself and the world.

Who are you as a photographer? Can you answer this question with a picture?

Comments

  6. I feel like I’m an explorer, out to discover the world. I try to record moments in time…something profound or something simple…it doesn’t really matter. I find moments that can never be repeated and that cry out to be discovered. These moments can tell an entire story with just one click. And what that story tells isn’t necessarily up to me…it’s just my calling to find it, to capture it, and to tell it to the world.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickersonphotos/2763588520/in/set-72157606670545855/

  7. I am the photographer who looks for the crack in things. For the stain, the pain. The thing you stumble across and which renders the photo imperfect and thus shows life how I experience and see it. I am not looking for clean, pretty, perfect, harmless. I look for this:

    http://www.jennifer-renner.de/portraits/4_3.jpg

    or

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_p0SyXoVy3Ds/S2AhvsXrAhI/AAAAAAAAAPU/FEnpendc_xg/s1600-h/ewru-4.jpg

    or

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_p0SyXoVy3Ds/Sy4sqeI_9NI/AAAAAAAAAGE/XHZNVQso74w/s1600-h/sm1.jpg

  9. I LOVE that image.

    At this point, I have no idea who I am as a photographer. Something interesting to think about, though. 🙂

  10. I LOVE that image.

    At this point, I have no idea who I am as a photographer. Something interesting to think about, though. 🙂

  11. I am a storyteller with my camera and my words. Sometimes documenting truth for an exact representation later and sometimes for inspiration for fiction to illustrate a story that began to form in the moment the shutter clicked.

    In the first example below the first three are how I do it and the last three show what I see .

    http://giftsofthejourney.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/primroses-powershots/

    This one is the story that came from the photograph.

    http://giftsofthejourney.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/tell-me-a-story-tuesdays-–-42-steps/

  20. I have no answer. I just started being a "serious" amateur photographer recently, and that’s part of what I’m trying to figure out. I’m working on developing what a writer would her "voice," and I guess a photographer would call her "point of view"? Although I’m not sure it would be good to boil yourself down to one "point of view."

    In any event, right now I’m experimenting by just doing different things. Still lifes, cityscapes, self portaits, flowers. We’ll see.

    http://www.dashily.com

  21. There are so many definitions for my work as a photographer. Here is a photograph that I think can sum it up.
    I’m looking for what ever "it" is that tugs at my heart and my soul at the same time. I love to wait for the moment to show itself to me. I love long exposures when I am holding the camera and the movement of my body as I breathe is effecting the subject I am photographing. At these moments I feel merged with all that is. So for me – when I am doing that type of photography work I feel like it’s spiritual practice. As a photographer I search for the spaces in between what we see in the everyday.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/catherinethegreat/4310245176/in/set-72157623297415250/

  22. What a beautiful photo – I’d love to know the story behind it.

    And what an interesting and timely question. My husband and I were just discussing it the other day. A photographer friend of ours plans his photographs in great detail, always with a particular concept/theme.

    I still haven’t officially labeled myself a photographer, though I guess I am one simply because I take photos. I do tend to look at things in terms of movement, as an animator and editor, and often will capture a moment of action.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/7687752@N03/4321660320/

    But I’ve started taking more photos of what I see around me when I’m outdoors – and have started getting close on the details of what I see because I love texture.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/7687752@N03/4322616198/

  24. I’m a watcher. Always have been. I see everything. I notice little things. I have a connection with my camera that sees something in a different way then may be the norm. It allows me to have a creative outlet.

  27. love your photo.

    and my oh my, you do ask the hard questions. and now i get to ponder my answer to that question. thanks for the nudge.

  28. i ask my self this all the time. even though i am just an amateur, i feel in my heart i am a photographer. and i have always been drawn to beauty. my facebook profile used to say, "i love beauty" and my flickr profile page says i’ve always been drawn to beauty — taking photos with my mind even before i owned a camera. so now that i like to take pictures, i feel the same with the camera. so i completely identify with what you are saying here.

    my desire is to take beautiful photographs. but it is also to photograph beautiful things… or at least the things i find beautiful.

    speaking of beauty… wonderful and beautiful shot here! i love the calligraphy, the shadows, the light, the paint on the hands, the hands. everything. so beautiful! i can’t think of a photo to share, but i wouldn’t dare after seeing yours. : )

  30. Sisters, thank you so much for sharing your photo identity! I feel like I’m really getting to know every single one of you out there and it feels great! And if you felt like you couln’t answer my question, no sweat! Sometimes these questions are simply good to hold. xo

  32. I am a historian. I believe that everything has a context and that I should include the who, what, where, when, and why.