Epiphany. (mini.)

You ever get the feeling that maybe your skipping rocks in the right pond, but the stones you keep picking up are all wrong?

That was a sad attempt at a metaphor... trying to explain how I feel about my photography business.

Let's back up. I fell in love with photography because I was introduced to a famous guy, you may know him, Ansel Adams. (If you don't please google him right now! You should know who this man is.) He photographed landscapes and had the most beautiful black and whites. He also photographed people in their surroundings, beautiful environmental portraits. After that I received my first camera and I was hooked. The first thing I photographed... landscapes. (Or really at that age is was more like pretty pictures in my back yard and the field down the street.) I took a few high school photo classes, and was awarded for one photograph... a landscape shot. Went off to college and my first year I won another award for an infrared image of a Michigan Lighthouse. Enter photojournalism. I loved photojournalism... but I always wanted to photograph more of the fluff pieces. One of my fellow college photo-pals once asked me why I always photographed pretty pictures and landscapes. I told him I enjoyed it.

So I probably could go on and on and give you the whole list of photo gigs I have had... photojournalist, sports photographer, wedding photographer... but the one that has always stayed is Landscape photography.

So I am flipping through people's web sites and I am always drawn to outdoor adventures and food and wine and people enjoying their surroundings and (of course) beautiful landscape imagery. I think to myself- "I can do that." It seems to come naturally for me.

So here I am trying to beat my head in the wall trying to learn different poses and edits and having meetings with awful people just so I can be a wedding photographer. So are you ready for my epiphany... I know what your thinking... your thinking I am going to say I quit being a wedding photographer. LOL! You're totally wrong. I still love photographing weddings, don't get me wrong. Who wouldn't? Plus... ummm, it brings in the mula! No, I won't quit being a wedding photographer. But my mini epiphany is that maybe I need to concentrate more on my editorial work and my landscape photography and stop beating my head with weddings.

For the past three years I have only had about 6-8 weddings a year. It hasn't really increased a lot. I receive more compliments on my landscape photography than I do anything else. Plus... it's my favorite! I am not ashamed anymore- I LOVE photographing oceans, sunsets, waterfalls, foggy mornings, bridges and yes... flowers! If I could I would photograph bigger mountains, grizzly bears and dolphins. I belong on the cover of 1859 and Oregon Outdoors and Wine Press and...dare I say it, National Geographic. I probably won't ever land a spread on the Wedding Knot.

It's almost as if God is saying... please be a photographer, keep doing it, just focus more on what you are suppose to photograph! And all of a sudden I am skipping rocks in the right pond and nothing is sinking.

Skipping,
Aubrie

PS. Do you like how I had this little epiphany literally two days before I enter the busiest part of wedding season? It's okay, cause I still love weddings and I will always love wedding photography. I am allowed to have a second favorite. :)