newfound identity

"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

[Marcie]

I think I'd describe myself as one who enjoys capturing the 'mood' of the moment:
http://www.marciescudderphotography.com/index.php?showimage=1060

[solstice letters]

I love to catch those moments when magic and mundane mingle.
http://solsticeletters.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/the-poetry-of-waiting/

[cdscott]

I'm a photographer driven by my thoughts and a writer driven by my images. Some days my images give me the story. Other days, I seek an image to go with the tale I am spinning.

http://courtneysablogger.blogspot.com/2010/01/taking-up-my-own-challenge.html

[elk]

i appreciate your thoughts alex and your image says much...

i will figure it out someday i suppose...and i imagine it will involve out doors right in front of me

from my black and white project:

http://redorgrayblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2010/01/21_29.html

[Christian at Modobject at Home]

In the past I've thought of myself as a pursuer of beauty, specifically beauty at home, (and in many ways I still am that) but this year I am making a special effort to capture and record everyday moments:
http://www.modobjectathome.com/2009/12/captured-moments.html

Mid-morning snacks:
http://www.modobjectathome.com/2010/01/bread-and-jam.html

Even the flu:
http://www.modobjectathome.com/2010/01/dear-influenza.html

[Amy]

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/

[Jennifer]

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

[Jade Sheldon]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmsheldon/4310339531/

[Kellee]

I LOVE that image.

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

[Kellee]

I LOVE that image.

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

[Elizabeth Harper]

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/

[Hannah]

The quote at the beginning of this post resonated deeply with me, too. I would say that I am a photographer who seeks out the beautiful details often overlooked in everyday life.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26935171@N00/4313126425/

[Lauren Doran]

I am a diviner. I work to uncover essential but unseen thoughts or spirits.

http://laurensnotboredyet.blogspot.com/2010/01/visit-from-fog-god.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_d/2775616537/in/set-72157606817594166/

[Ari]

I'm another one of those "I have no idea what kind of photographer I am."

That being said, lately I've been on a quest for making things beautiful:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiousillusion/4325973389/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiousillusion/4319491279/

But it doesn't always work out. My pictures are random and I think I'm okay with that. :)

[Tracey of These Nine Acres]

I like to make common things into my version of art. One of my favorite recent images where I feel I accomplished this is located here:

http://nine-acres.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-29365-dark-omen-week-in-review-4.html

[erika]

I'm still trying to figure that out. But I'd like to think I'm trying to remember the ordinary moments as beautifully as possible.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onemoreplease/4285804817/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onemoreplease/4326811164/

[Katie]

I love capturing kids...especially my own...I love all the little pieces of our days that make up our lives! It is all the little moments that put us together and make us who we are supposed to be...love it!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlyleandkatie/4318813980/

[Jean M Fogle]

Telling a story with photos is what i love to do best. Today I told how a tiny bubble came become a frozen wonder
http://pixels-n-pen.blogspot.com

[suzie]

what I aspire to is being able to create a story; a picture that takes the viewer on their own, magical journey. But also to capture the beauty of everyday detail rather than the bigger picture. I am still very much at the start, I really engaged with photography when I went back to shooting film a few months ago and I have so much still to learn.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ascatteredbrain/4007952418/in/set-72157622129309333/

[Laura]

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

[Catherine Just]

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/

[mosey along]

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/

[jakki]

I'd like to think that my photo's brings across love and beauty. That both are timeless even when we dont think we HAVE it any longer...its there. That both are in the smallest of items and all we have to do is just look... Just like here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valeenwashington/4319556759/sizes/o/

[wendy]

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.

[cindi]

I like that I can tell a story just from the images that were taken on any given day... or night.

sometimes it's as simple as recording 3 days out my back door:

http://photographythrucindiseyes.blogspot.com/2010/01/out-my-back-door.html

and other times it's spending the night in the airport to catch an early flight:

http://cindi-aspiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2009/12/roaming-halls-on-christmas-eve-night.html

[lucy]

i am a see-er. since i found photography, i've seen the world in a whole new light, and i want to share my vision.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucyloomis/4285263788/in/set-72157623111142312/

[amanda]

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.

[georgia]

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. : )

[Kacey]

As a photographer, I'm all about capturing the simple moments in life. Beautiful, messy, serene, chaotic...whatever the moment may be.

http://www.wineonthekeyboard.com/2010/02/03/sea-of-blue/

[alexdesouza]

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

[Claudia@ DipityRoad]

I ran across your post tonight and thought how perfect.

Since the beggining of 2010 -- I have been hosting Friday--Finding Beauty. Please come join us if you can-- we are all in the same quest. Like Wayne Dyer says-- When you change the way you look at things the things you look at change.

Stop by-- we would love to have you.

http://www.dipityroad.com/fridays-finding-beauty/friday-finding-beauty-2510

[Bree]

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

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