details

as much as i love shooting people (and they are my favorite thing to shoot), i admit that i love a good detail shot now & then.

in fact, i think detail shots are absolutely essential to a complete shoot -- regardless of whether you're doing a low-prep day-in-the-life kinda shoot, or you're covering a wedding -- capturing the physical, material details of the day is vital to creating a photo set that feels representative. they help to construct a fluid narrative. to go a step further, i also think putting artistry into those shots is worth the effort. arrange things in an odd way, shoot in aperture priority to get a luminous bokeh that lets your eye really focus on only one aspect of the item. juxtapose. get an unexpected perspective. the creativity of the item's photo should service the beauty of the object itself.

this is definitely something most photographers agree is a priority in shooting. when we're first hired for a shoot, we often get a detail shot here & there, but sometimes back off a bit due to the confused faces that confront us -- the ones that seem to say, "why on earth would you need a shot of those clovers? or that sprig of parsley? or the exact page that the priest will be reading from?" but as we see how they allow us to create a complete album, we tend to include more and more so that eventually, what was once superfluous (albeit lovely) is now crucial.

why is this important? because the people who hire us sometimes overlook it. this is not to say they don't appreciate a beautiful detail shot -- their minds are often preoccupied with worries about and plans for the actual portraits that they might not consider the essentiality of detail shots. i believe it's our job as professional photographers to be that eye -- the eye that doesn't miss a beat. because one day, once the anticipation of the day has passed, they'll want to see their day as they remember it, in every vivid, astonishing detail. your duty is not to be a seeing eye, but a creating one -- not just present, but within; not just requisite, but remarkable.