Belle Photos

What is it that photographers do? Why can’t some business person buy the same camera as the photographer and shoot their client or product themselves? They could, but they would be missing out on the very reason that the photographer has any value at all: the photographer’s primary purpose is to display their own unique perspective to the world through the medium of photography.

“the photographer’s primary purpose is to display their own unique perspective”

Think about it; all photographers use basically the same equipment, the same software, and the same type of computers to edit and shoot their subjects. And yet, even though they use the same things, their photographs are so very different. The meaning and mood behind each photograph becomes very particular to that photographer. You can soon see a pattern in their work, and you expect that same type of work in their next set of photographs. That’s why we like certain photographers and dislike others, because their voice carries through each photograph, and we want more.

In a way, photography shares many similarities to music. Musicians use the same type of equipment, and yet, no two songs are alike. And even when some bands sing the same songs as others, it is an altogether different song. The musician brings their own personality to the music, their own differences, and their own values to the songs they sing. Because of their own unique voice, the song changes. In the same way, even if two photographers were photographing the same subject, they would capture different things, they would focus on different aspects of the subject, and their work would reflect their own style and perspective, just like the differences in the same song sung by two different musicians.

It’s in this unique perspective that we find out something very important: our creativity is our commodity. We are selling our perspective of life, beauty, and the values that are already within us. We facilitate this perspective through various equipment, computers, software, film, etc. But at no time should we mistake the ends for the means. The end is to produce and capture our unique voice, our unique ability to see the world in a way that no one else can. The means is anything that facilitates us in bringing out that perspective.

“our creativity is our commodity”

When you can produce your unique voice, people will be able to distinguish you from other voices, and they will be able to enjoy what you bring to them in a way that only you can. Your photograph is your fingerprint.

Finding your own voice through the medium of photography can be an incredible journey, one that I am still going through myself. And now that I understand what the end is for me, it’s easier to see that bringing out and establishing my own voice is so important, because in the end, that’s all we really have.

- Daniel Vineyard
Belle Photography