I am a portrait photographer. As many know, I spend a lot of time shooting senior portraits. I have a few weddings thrown in there, as well as some family stuff, but they all have one common thread, they are portraiture. I have painstakingly customized my gear over the course of my time to fit the needs of what I wanted to show people in photography...a little drama. Take the image below. It shows how 99% of the photographers around would shoot it: Properly exposed for ambient light.

It's not a bad image and a lot of people would be quite happy to have it. I on the other hand would not. It doesn't fit the style I am looking for. For me it lacks the "pizzazz" I try to bring to every shoot.

Here we have the same subject, same location, same camera...but with my style of lighting thrown into the mix.

A little different huh? The second image is me. It is my style of shooting. I want people to have photos that have "punch". I want my subject to jump off the image and smack you in the face. I want the viewers to look at my images and say "Wow, that's really awesome". My style is something that not everyone with a camera can do.

Now I am not trying to say that the other photographers around are bad or that I am better than they are, or anything of the sort...not at all. I am saying that I have a different way of shooting that some people may like, and some people may not. That's ok. It's ok to be different.

I go the extra mile hauling around 40lbs of lighting gear on a stand to get shots like this. So, no, you won't get 150 images when you come to my shoot. What I will promise you is that you'll get images that will be different, unique, and difficult to choose from...and that's my goal. If you can't pick your favorite, I have done my job.

Which do you prefer? How do you want your story to look? Does the photographer's work reflect how you want your story told? Those are two very important questions to ask when finding a photographer to shoot your memories. Thanks for visiting and reading along. Feel free to leave comments below on which you prefer and why.