Honesty in photography

Want to know a secret, most of us photographers are not honest, we're storytellers. We see a picture, we create it with our lens and then manipulate it to what emotion we want to convey. Seriously its that secret that the greats know best. They understand how to convey emotion consistently in their pictures in order to tell a great story and the best photographer out there do it in every single picture and just understand people.

I was thinking about this while taking this picture today. Here is the "story" behind the photo. My oldest got sent home from school today with a fever. As a result he has gotten a lot of extra love and cuddles from mommy today, which has put him in a cuddle bug mood. While rushing to watch an episode of "The Berenstein Bears" the boys have been anticipating, Elliot slipped on the ground and fell. As a result I kindly asked him "Are you ok, are you hurt?" Then Erik responds "Come here Elliot for a cuddle, I'll make you feel better."

Its a dream of mine that my children look to each other for comfort as I do with my own siblings, and my boys having a strong friendship/relationship is something I feel passionately about and foster in the best way I know how. So when Erik did this I wanted to capture the moment forever but of course said "hold that pose while I get my camera." Then I ran into the other room messing with my ISO and exposures while I ran back, until I thought I had it close enough to just snap the moment. In truth I got the shot, not the original sincere look I was going for. This is why not all moments should be photographed honestly. I did get enough of the photo to tell you my story the way I wanted it to be told and the way I envisioned it.

But here is the truth, it wasn't perfect, this photo worked and it was good enough, but I wanted more. When I first snapped this moment, this is the very first image on my camera. In no way was it showing what I wanted or telling the story I felt emotionally connected too.

 

I tried again, and got the shot that does show my story, but it wasn't perfect and didn't capture that first hug my kids gave each other that was so sincere it melted my heart. So I tried again and got this shot. Sometimes though you have to know when you have enough and walk away from what was in your head.

In all honesty, for every single photo session I shoot professionally, I am trying to tell a story, but honestly it just a posed emotion. Its finding the truth that makes the best photographers the best. You can have all the technical skills, the visions, the location, but its the emotion that makes the photograph. When I am photographing a family I want to show the truth of the love and connection in that family in the best way I can, with the limited knowledge I have about that family. Mostly its a pretty setting with a beautiful family and it works, but its not great until the emotions come out. The same goes for headshots, weddings, what have you. Until there is an honest emotion or an honest moment the picture is just good enough. Let's just say photojournalist have my utmost respect.