Diane Jarvis-Schuller

As a photographer who works with people as well as people and their pets, my focus is on capturing their ‘story’ to provide a recording of that time in their life. I just read an important blog post by another photographer that completely blew me away. PhotoDino’s post entitled, “You Get What You Give” set me right back into the crook of my chair with the reminder of why I began taking pictures in the first place.

As a custom photographer, plus because I’m also a people-person, I do try to learn something about my clients/subjects. I do so out of interest but also because I feel knowing more about them helps me capture the genuine aspects that reveal something of them. What PhotoDino brought to the fore was a reminder to slow down, give of myself to make the client/subject feel even more important. Yes, absolutely, I’m going to keep that uppermost in how I conduct business in 2010. I’m going to build upon what I already do and take the time to let clients know they are important enough to remember, whether it’s said or demonstrated. Important – enough – to – remember.

In that blog post PD used an example of taking a photograph of a gentleman in the bar and how it made the gentleman feel — that he was important enough to remember. There have been numerous times I’ve taken photographs of strangers, mostly because I saw a story in what they were doing or perhaps had seen in their eyes. The mistake I’ve been making is taking the photograph and moving on. From now on, I’m going to stop, let the person know why I’m interested in taking their photo, and take the time to find out more about them.