Lifestyle or Documentary Photographer?
While I consider myself more of a lifestyle photographer than a documentary photographer, my goal is always to teeter the line between both styles. I will explain how I do this, but first, let’s define what documentary and lifestyle photography are.
What is Lifestyle Family Photography?
Lifestyle family photography is a style of photography that is meant to capture real stories of real people and their real connections within the family, but it is often done in an artistic and semi-staged manner.
Families may be styled, and put in a beautiful spot with beautiful light, but the emotion/connection prompted is meant to be genuine. The purpose is to showcase the family as they really are, rather than just creating a pretty posed picture. These photos are meant to feel authentic and have more of a natural look, but are directed by the photographer to ensure good composition, lighting, etc.
What is Documentary Family Photography?
Documentary family photography chronicles real life and real people WITHOUT any staging or manipulation by the photographer. Sessions are often done over a longer period of time and the photographer should give no direction to the family involved. It is literally being a fly on the wall. These story telling images usually include environmental details, close-ups, and tell an entire story of everyday life.
How I try to teeter the line between lifestyle photography and documentary photography:
As a family photographer in Colorado Springs, I do not want to have to choose between lifestyle and documentary photography. I want to blur the line between both of those as much as possible.
I will start the session with some more direction. This is almost always needed. Families often feel uncomfortable at first and are looking for direction from me. They want to know what they should do. I start out with encouraging play and movement. I will help to orchestrate some moments, especially in the beginning, with the hope that other moments unfold naturally. Although I do have some say in the moments that unfold like where to go and which direction to face, the most important thing to me is that the moments I capture are real and genuine. Not contrived. I don’t want you to look at a photo and remember what prompt I gave you. I want you to be able to look at a photo and feel that emotion over and over again for years to come.
Admittedly, this is easier with younger children. They are often more free to do whatever they want without overthinking it. While many children have been trained to smile and look at the camera, they can quickly forget that the camera is around and I try to let them do whatever they want and lead the way. This is when I am happiest at a session….when the child takes over and when the parents “give in” to whatever the child wants to do. As time goes on in the session, you can almost see the weight lift off of the parent’s shoulders.
True documentary photographers would not consider my session to be documentary because I do prompt and give some direction. And I would agree with this, but it is always my goal to get as close to a documentary session as I can. This means giving as little direction as possible as the session goes on and families become more comfortable.
I can blur the line between these two worlds even more as I am going through photos and choosing which ones to edit. Even if I gave a prompt to encourage a family to interact with each other in a certain way, the picture I choose from that moment is usually not the first set of photos. It is usually from well after the prompt, when the family has moved on from what they were just told to do and they are doing something completely on their own. My camera does not go down, I keep on taking the pictures and that’s when the real moments get captured. When all of those “real life” pictures are put together, that is where the family’s story is told.
For more information on what it’s like to work with me, check out my about page or visit my lifestyle family photos page.
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