To Shoot or Not to Shoot?

I ask myself this question quite often. I am not your average photographer I absolutely do not like the "stock footage" type of photography. You know what I mean, The posed photos that are so obviously staged, the fake smiles, the eyes that if you continue to keep snapping they start to go dead. You know stale photography. I like to bring my camera with me to random events that often don't call for a photographer. Why do you ask? Well, because you never know what you are going to get (you like my Forrest Gump reference?) In all seriousness when I look at some photos of past memories they look so disingenuous. Although I am happy to have those memories, I just wish they were the real memories. 

Around the last week of June my family decided they wanted to have a family reunion. Why have a reunion in the one of the hottest months of the year? Who knows. As I grabbed my bag, sunglasses, and Stanley cup full of ice water I decided to grab one last thing, my camera. If you read my last blog post you know that I am faithful to my Cannon t3i. This camera has never ever let me down in most photography situations and since I didn't know much about where the reunion was being held, I decided it's better to be safe than sorry. We don't want the same mistake happening twice. As my mom and I pulled into the park where the reunion was being held I am so thankful I brought my camera because one, everyone ran up to me saying they didn't even think about having a photographer and two, it gave me something to do besides focus on how extremely hot it was. No lie, the temperature got up to 98 that day.  

I decided that my first stop would be this huge water slide all kids were on. To say they were enjoying themselves would be an understatement. I started taking pictures of them slipping and sliding, having water balloon fights, and just enjoying life being a kid. That's when it hit me. Everyone asked me what kind of photographer am I? Do I do weddings or newborn shoots? While the answer is yes, I still look for those small moments, those moments in life that are so imperfectly perfect that they transcend onto the camera. So I like to say that now I am a lifestyle photographer. I love staying in the background and letting life happen in front of me.

According to google a lifestyle photographer is “a style of portrait/people photography which aims to capture and document real-life events, situations, or milestones in an artistic manner and the art of the everyday”. I honestly think that sums up what I do perfectly. So, no longer will I say, "Oh, well I kind of capture anything in front of me because it looks more natural." No, I will now say "my name is Jessica Fields, and I am a lifestyle photographer."