I Want You To Have Cool Photos, Okay? | POV, I’m Your Photographer
Why are we acting like I’m only allowed to photograph you once? What if I miss you? Like it should be illegal for us to spend literal hours getting to know each other, I take fire photos, you get your gallery back, we both cry, and then we just go onto our separate ways?!?!
WHAT ABOUT THE BOND WE HAVE TOGETHER!?
Turns out, one of my favorite parts of the job is making people bawl ugly tears over the art we make together…and apparently becoming emotionally attached to them in the process.
Consider this my formal application to hire me as your Southern Utah Photographer.
But what if we didn’t break up?!
What if I became the household photographer? Like the person you call for the random moments where you just want new photos, your engagement, the cross-country road trip you have coming up in four months, your wedding or elopement, and every other significant—or completely insignificant—life moment after that?
That would be sick.
I don’t think we need to wait until you’re checking some giant milestone off the list before we’re allowed to make something together again, especially when we already know you love the photos, I already know you two, and none of us have to go through the awkward “hi nice to meet you, now please make out in front of me” stage again.
We can just skip ahead to the good part.
I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out what I want my work to look like
I’ve invested in education that actually aligns with the kind of work I want to do. I’ve read books and spent more time messing around in Lightroom than I probably need to admit publicly. You can find me in any given moment experimenting with light, blur, movement, color, composition, weird angles, and basically anything else that makes my brain go, “wait a second, what if I tried this?”
Sometimes it works and I become obsessed with it, and sometimes I look at it afterward and think, “okay cool, never doing that again,” but that’s honestly part of how I’ve figured out what feels like mine.
My photography style came from taking a lot of photos, trying things, paying attention to what I kept coming back to, and continuing to push things around until I started recognizing myself in the work.
P.S. I’m still doing that now because I don’t ever want my work to get too comfortable or start feeling like I’m making the same thing over and over again.
You deserve photos for whenever and whatever
While my education is cool and obviously plays a huge part in the art we end up making together, I’m way more excited about making photos where you look at yourself and immediately go, “holy fuck, I’m a baddie.” HELL YES U ARE <3
Like obviously I looooove to make cool art and do weird things with my camera, which sometimes means you’re watching me contort myself into the most awkward position imaginable because apparently THAT is where the shot is.
But even while I’m doing all of that, I’m still paying attention to your interesting-as-hell self and making sure the art actually makes sense for the people standing in front of me (YOU BBG).
One of the things I’m proudest of is that my photography style isn’t something I just slap onto every gallery, upload to Instagram, and boom, onto the next one.
I TAKE PRIDE IN THIS, K?
Yes, I have an eye for the epic shot, but I also think my job would get boring as fuck if I wasn’t challenging myself creatively every single time I had another couple in front of my camera.
Different people should make me want to create different things. PERIOD.
I care about the people I’m photographing so damn much
I ask a lot of questions because I’m genuinely curious about people and about the way they love each other. So yea—I want to know how you met, what makes your relationship yours, what kind of shit makes you both laugh, who is more dramatic, who pretends they’re not dramatic but absolutely is, and what little things your person does that would seem completely insignificant to everybody else but mean everything to you.
The more I understand how you two actually interact, the easier it is for me to document you in a way that feels natural instead of turning you into some generic version of what a couple is “supposed” to look like in photos.
The way I see it., if I’m going to spend all this time trying to make something cool as hell, I want it to be cool as hell because it’s yours, not because I could’ve made the exact same gallery with another couple the next day.
The messages that mean the most to me are never just “these are pretty”
Do not get me wrong, I absolutely loooooove hearing that your photos are beautiful because I am still a person with an ego and I will happily take the compliment.
The messages that really get me are the ones where somebody says, “this is so us,” or tells me they don’t understand how I somehow captured exactly what something felt like, or sends me a message halfway through their gallery because they’re already straight-up bawling.
THOSE are the messages that make me lose my mind a little.
Like yes, I want you to think the photos are cool as hell, but I also want you to look at them and immediately recognize the two of you inside of them. I want you to see the way you actually interact, the little shit you probably don’t even realize you do, and the parts of your relationship that would be impossible for me to photograph if I didn’t actually give a shit about getting to know you first.
Then I get to take all of that and do whatever weird little thing my brain wants to do with it. Motion, strange framing, weird light, blur, whatever, and somehow turn it into something that still feels like you.
The second time I photograph you is when things get even more fun
One of my favorite things about working with people more than once is because by the time we get to that second session, we already know each other and I don’t have to spend the first half of it figuring out how you two operate.
You already know that if I ask you to do something that sounds a little odd, there is probably a reason for it, and I already know whether you’re the type of couple who is immediately down for anything or whether we need twenty minutes of talking shit first before you forget there is even a camera around.
We’ve already gotten through that first-date stage, and now we can have way more fun with it because there’s already trust there.
That’s why I love the idea of photographing your engagement session and then your wedding, or your couples session and then your elopement, because each time I see you again I already know a little bit more about who you are and how you move together.
And if we keep going after that? Even better, Pookie.
Maybe I photograph you in Southern Utah (Fav Southern Utah Photo spots here!) one year and then you drag me across the country for something completely different the next. Maybe you call me because you’re engaged, or maybe you call me because you found a ridiculous outfit and decided you needed photographic evidence of how hot you looked in it.
Both are equally acceptable reasons IMO.
Things I Feel Strongly About
This is my application after all, I would like to make a few things VERY clear:
- You do not need to be engaged, getting married, celebrating an anniversary, or checking off some huge milestone to have a reason to book photos with me. Wanting cool photos is literally enough — more about my rant about this subject here.
- Your relationship does not need to perform for my camera
- We are not just allowed to make weird shit, I am basically begging you to
- Pretty locations are cool, but you’re still the point. Southern Utah can show off all she wants, but I’m still there for you
- Not every photo needs to be perfectly clean, crisp, and technically boring. Sometimes blur is hot
- You are allowed to come back…AND PLEASE DO!
Basically, I want the photos to feel like we actually made something together instead of you showing up, standing where I tell you, smiling for an hour, and leaving. That sounds miserable BTW.
So yeah, I’m trying to be your photographer again
And again, actually.
Because if we already know we had fun together, you already know you love the way I photograph you, and I already know how the two of you work together, then why would we not keep doing this?
What if I see some insane location and immediately think about you? What if you text me and say, “okay Kennedi, I have an idea,” and then we both start spiraling into what we could make out of it?
AGAIN, WHAT IF I MISS YOU???
I want to be the person you call when you have a reason for photos, but I also want to be the person you call when you absolutely do not have a reason and you just want to go make something cool together.
Maybe it’s your engagement, maybe you’re planning your wedding or elopement, maybe we’re meeting somewhere in Southern Utah, or maybe you’re about to go somewhere completely new and you’ve already decided I’m coming with you.
Whatever the excuse is, I’m down.
P.S. If there isn’t an excuse…Even better.
If you’re vibing with me and want to cook up some baller photos together, tell me what you’re thinking and let’s make some shit.
