The One Thing.

Every so often I pick up the book called The One Thing. The idea behind it is pretty simple — focus on the one thing and focus your attention on that.

Not ten things halfway, not chasing whatever everyone else is doing.

Just one thing that actually matters to you, and that’s most important.

It made me think a lot about my photography — and how easy it is to get pulled into the latest trend or “look” that everyone’s talking about.

In the wedding photography world, every season there is some new way of shooting that’s supposed to be “the best way to photograph a wedding”.

It’s tempting to chase that stuff. I’ve done it before. Most creatives do that at some point. But over time, you find your own creative voice, and your comfort zone.

For me, as a wedding photographer my “one thing” is documentary-style photography. It’s not about staging or directing or following what’s trending online.

It’s not about creating editorialized perfection for a superficial online audience, it’s about creating a body of work that will let the couple tell their own stories of their day through the photographs I make from my perspective as I experience their wedding day.

Being a documentary photographer in the truest sense is about watching, anticipating, and capturing moments as they unfold naturally.

It’s real, it’s unpredictable, and it keeps me interested — which, honestly, is the whole reason I still love doing this.

The book reminded me that focusing on one thing doesn’t limit you — it frees you up.

You start seeing the work differently.

You get better at it. You care more.

And maybe most importantly, you stop comparing yourself to everyone else. When you find your “one thing,” you can finally stop chasing others and just focus on what you love.

The First One

I’ve decided to start writing online again.

It’s been many, many years since I’ve done this on a regular basis.

There was a time where I was doing two or three posts a week.

Those posts are all long gone, so starting today I’m going to aim to put a post a week here for you to read.

A recent client of mine asked me what it was like being a wedding photographer — and if you know me, I don’t really sugar coat anything, and I certainly don’t “sell” some romantic version of what I do as a wedding photographer.

I love what I do, but it’s a very strange line of work. I’ve also hit low times and had times where I thought I had shot my last wedding.

Such is the creative life — we need to be inspired and interested in what we do to do a great job.

If you ask someone what a wedding photographer does, they know. It’s not rocket science.

We’re there to take photos. Lots of them, and usually in a particular “style”.

Hopefully you find someone who puts a great deal of themselves into their work. When that happens you can really see the difference between their work and others.

Their style is very closely tied to who they are as a human being, and more importantly, what they are interested in.

Why do couples hire wedding photographers?

Often, it’s simply because we provide a certain service that they need.

We also provide a certain level of comfort knowing that someone is there with the sole purpose of documenting their wedding from start to finish.

Guests and family can certainly take photos, but we are locked in for the duration of the day with one goal (and a contract to deliver that service).

Photographing a wedding is quite possibly one of the hardest things to do consistently — to arrive at someone’s home and embed yourself into the vibe of the day and then take loads of great photographs requires a certain level of mental fortitude.

You could absolutely ask a friend to photograph your wedding, and you will save a few thousand dollars. Yes, you can do that….but speaking from my own personal experience having done that, I actually don’t recommend it. ( unless of course your friend does this for a living as well ).