I DARED MYSELF TO BE ME

Have you ever just endlessly scrolled through Instagram or Facebook and thought to yourself, “huh… All these images look the same.” With everyone having a phone camera and social media at out fingertips, everyone with an account can post their pics and call themselves a photographer, and what do you end up with at that point? Endless social media feeds of essentially the same edits, settings, and photos that you forget about almost instantly after scrolling passed them.

Don’t get me wrong, we all have to start somewhere, and I used to be that person many years ago essentially posting the same thing. So what changed? Exactly that. I wanted to stand out from the rest, I wanted to be different, I wanted to create memorable photos, and right there and then, I became Inspired.

Just as the photo above shows, I took a gamble and decided to be me, and just me. Not try and copy other’s works, but literally go one picture at the time while editing and edit as the photos made me feel Inspired. I do not do bulk editing! I made a promise to myself many years ago that I would never do that. It would sure make things hell of a lot easier and faster to edit an entire gallery all at once by copy and pasting the same edit, but guess what? At the end of the project, I would end up with that exact same photo over an over again. That’s not who I am as an artist and as a photographer, and because of this, I will continue to gamble on that promise I made myself to deliver one-of-a-kind photos with every gallery.

MY STYLE, MY PHOTOGRAPHY

As I mentioned already, this is my style, my photography. Anyone looking for a photographer to deliver the same thing that thousands of other photographers can deliver, well then I am not your photographer. When I edit a photoshoot, I like to bring unique emotions to every picture. If I can make you feel, make you even ask yourself, “Is that really me?!” Then I know I’ve done my job.

Everyone has a phone camera nowadays, which takes me to the same argument of everyone posting the same picture. It is my job to capture a different perspective, composition, and literally see things others don’t, then put it all together with unique personalized editing to make the photos stand out from the rest.

A gamble? Yes. And just as in gambling, you might lose some, but then you can definitely win big on others. These are the wins where the client wants something different, something unique and personal. Although a tiring and overwhelming process at times since most of my photoshoots I end up with thousands of pictures to go through, at the end this is a very rewarding experience not just for me, but my clients. This I am able to achieve by going image by image, which allows me to deliver my best work and put my personalized attention to each and every image just for you.

CREATING SELF-WORTH

This is why I don’t charge $20 to do a shoot anymore. Yes I used to do that when I was first starting. But do you know what I realized? After doing an hour long shoot, then spending upwards of 10 hours editing the images, I was literally paying myself under $2 an hour. Is that how much I am worth? How much am I worth then? definitely not $2 an hour. This is when I decided to rebrand myself. Many believe that photographers have it easy, but what they fail to recognize is the many hours spent after the shoot, the equipment that was purchased/rented, the many hours of continuous studying and training in photography, the software, and many other factors that go into being a photographer.

So no, I do not charge $20 an hour anymore, I do charge quite a bit more now. But with that comes experience, knowledge, and as my OCD kicks in, individual time with every single image that I edit. This is also another reason why I don’t book lots of appointments every week. I limit myself to only  1 to 3 bookings a week. This allows me to ensure that I give each one of my clients my 100%, and don’t become so busy with other shoots that it starts affecting my promised performance to my clients.

THE GAMBLE

There are 4 me’s in the picture. As I keep gambling on my art, my style, my services, and my photography, as you can tell I have gone through every emotion. Sometimes I can’t believe I am doing what I am doing. Other times it gets frustrating and put myself down from time to time. But then, other times I am just amazed of what Inspired Photography has become and how far I’ve gotten with what once was only a hobby. This is when I feel I’ve won big. THE JACKPOT! And then, there is the fourth me in the background, capturing every moment from every perspective, and not missing a single shot of this exciting adventure I’ve found myself in.

With all of that said, I dare you to be you just as I’ve dared myself to stay true to myself and who I am. I dare you to take that gamble and embark on your own unique adventure. I dare you to stand out from the crowd.

Welcome to Inspired Photography.