The best part is putting a voice with images – email just doesn’t cut it when you want to check out somebody’s spirit and their passion for the craft.  Their images might look terrific, the ideas they present are exciting, but you need to either pick up the phone or meet them in person – that’s when the fun really begins. 

This morning, meet Nicole Wolf.  I saw her images, we talked on the phone, but I had no idea how her guest blog would become one my favorites to date.   What I’ve enjoyed most is learning how she’s influenced by other photographers and stays focused on special projects to keep her creative juices flowing. 

I wrote about Jason Groupp’s NYC project a few weeks ago.  In the next day or two, registration for the 2nd Annual Skip’s Summer School is going to launch and Kevin Kubota’s program is, “The Power of the Project”.  In PDN’s Focus on Weddings, I interviewed Jonathan Canlas, who talked about being influenced by photographers outside the wedding industry, commercial shooters like Chuck Close, Craig Cutler, Alec Soth, Stephen Shore and Andreas Gursky. 

Nicole’s guest post is a perfect example of a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson, that I’ve paraphrased and butchered to death over the years…”I am a part of all that I have met!”   Time for me to shut up and just turn it over to Nicole!

One of my favorite quotes is by Cecil Beaton, “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”  How can you read this quote and there not be a fire under your butt to create work that is innovative and forward thinking?

I said a long time ago, when we took on wedding photography as part of our business, that I never wanted it to get to a point that we were stuck in the middle.  Mediocracy in my opinion is the easy way out.  It’s easy to have a formula. It’s easy to follow the crowd.  It’s easy to do the same shots week after week.  It’s easy to never experiment with light and it’s easy to play it safe. 

What isn’t easy is thinking for yourself, stretching the possibilities of your own imagination, creating a new way of being, pushing your limits, taking risks, to be thought provoking and inspiring.  Remember, you are only as good as your last shot!

The question always asked of me however, is “How do you do that?” “How did you think of that and what was your motivation?”  The answer is easy, look outside of your comfort zone and create work that exceeds your own expectations. 

I have worked in the commercial photography and design world for about 15 years. Since being a part of the wedding industry I have noticed something, wedding photographers create a bubble for themselves and stay inside that bubble.  You can’t expect growth if the only thing you are inspired by are other wedding photographers, if the only workshops you attend are lead by other wedding photographers, if the only photos you look at are by other wedding photographers and if the only imagery YOU shoot is wedding photography.  Don’t get me wrong, there is amazing talent out there and things to be inspired by in the wedding field, but that should not be our only outlet for creative thinking.

It is so important to create work that relates to another part of yourself.  At SOTA Dzine, the work we do commercially pushes the boundaries with lighting and concept.  I think it is so important for wedding photographers to not just shoot available light!  So what if you have never studied it or taken a class. You can learn by experimentation, assisting for a photographer that does and READ.  The only way to move forward, especially in this day and age, is to push yourself with your lighting techniques.  Take advantage at WPPI and the other trade shows to talk to some of the lighting vendors and invest in something new.  Also, concept is key. Study and research movement, fashion, expression, composition. Then implement those learned skills in a new way of seeing into your own work.

Ever since grad school I have also understood the importance of a personal body of work.  This is not a paid gig. There are no clients involved. You may or may not ever show it to anybody else, but it is yours!  It allows you to take your work to a place that is vulnerable.  Where you are not being judged on whether you got the right shot or produced the perfect photograph. It is raw, organic and real.  Figure out what you want to say. Tell a story or discover a new way of seeing. Allow yourself to make mistakes so that you can in turn create something inspired. 

We, as artists, need to be open to the possibility of failure and from this nourishing ourselves. You have to  recognize your need for growth.  This is an amazing way to grow through your work and in turn apply this to your paid gigs!  SOTA has seen this play out many times with booking commercial clients who hired us for their wedding photography and visa versa. One of my new favorite outlets for wedding photographers is Will Jacks, Chris Williams and Sarah Hodzic workshop called “Rebirth.”

All in all, don’t get stuck in the middle.  When you look back 25 years from now at your body of work, you want to be elated by what you accomplished and how you never let yourself be commonplace. You pushed the envelope, never rode on anyone’s coattails, and made your own mistakes. You earned your own successes!

Make an imprint in the industry, take risks, do it for yourself and for your clients!

Nicole Wolf

The images shown represent Sota Dzine well and the style offered to their wedding clients, commercial clients and a personal art image from Nicole’s project on lobster fisherman.   But for me personally, the most fun comes out of Nicole’s constant quest to make her work look different and push that edge of the envelope she wrote about!