Moments

I call them moments.  When I’m traveling, and it’s raining, and the music in the Uber is perfect, and Matthew is next to me, and I think: all is well.  It’s a moment.

What Denver International Airport looks like at 4 am.

When I’m laying in a hotel bed, and a storm rages across the city, lightening flashing and cutting the sky, and the blanket is warm and the pillow just right.  A moment.

When the participant suddenly opens up in front of me, and laughs a brilliant, heart felt giggle that echos across the convention floor, and I keep shooting, finding just the right image to combine with the green screen artwork.  A moment.  Now a moment caught in a photo.

A participant laughs after I say something totally inappropriate.

The moments that make a great shoot range from the interactions with the hotel bellman to the conversation with the nervous client.  From the inappropriate but funny joke that lets a participant let loose in front of the camera, to the epiphany of designing great artwork.  Moments are what make your life fun; they are the blood that flows into great photography and creates living images.  Taking moments and recording them; photographers have been doing that for decades. Great photographers create great moments that capture a snippet of a story forever.

A participant BEFORE he realized I was shooting.

In terms of experiential photo marketing, stories sell.  Personal stories sell even more.  Great companies write those personal stories for their consumers; enough stories and you create a lifestyle.  Budweiser:  this Bud’s for you.  Hollister: you can probably smell the beach when you see their clothes.  Southwest:  Luv travel.

What story do your photos tell?  As an artist, what stories are in your heart?  Where is your art taking you?  Can I make a suggestion?  Listen for the story with both ears, and when it calls you, just keep shooting.