I’ve heard it all, I really have. From, “you’ll never be a good photographer with out off camera flash” to “Your logo is way too plain. Clients are going to hate it.” and then the ever wonderful, “your website is boring and you need to update it, make it more modern.”   The last one I really love……because if you know me personally, then you know that my website is truly my style, it is a true reflection of who I am, nothing hidden or spiced up, just the true me. So when someone says it’s……well……bad, in a sense they are saying I am not good enough to book clients simply being me and producing good quality work.  I beg to differ, although when I receive this constructive criticism I always smile and nod, I never let it get under my skin or upset me. Why? It’s simple, I book my kind of clients. I book beautiful, fun, lovable brides who secretly love Harry Potter, are into Com-icon, love Star Wars, are into Star Trek, and a few who are also Whovians because Doctor Who rocks. They are animal lovers, support rescues, aren’t afraid of hard work, and they love to laugh. My brides have an elegant style that sometimes is so simple in its beauty that it is breathtaking. These are my kind of girls, my kind of friends, and every time a bride says to me, “You know, it felt like you were just one of the family the whole day.” I know I am doing something right.

The thing is when you know who you are, nay sayers have less power to shake you or change you, even if they think they are helping. I say thank you to those who are nay sayers because for every change they feel I should do, they remind me why I remain the same. My brides love me and I love them……..surely this is not a bad thing in any way shape or form. So I am ok being me. I am ok not shooting off camera flash, because I am really good just shooting with available light, I can work it , manipulate it, and make it sing in my photographs. For now, other than for dancing at receptions, I’m sticking to natural light, not because I can’t learn, or because I look down on others who shoot with off camera lighting, but because I would rather be extremely good at one style or one thing, than to be ok at 2 different styles, or things. When you start splitting yourself into too many different ways of doing things, your style suffers and there is an inconsistency people begin to see that they don’t like. So how ever you shoot, stick to it and make it yours backwards, forwards, upside down, and in the rain, and when you know, because you will feel it deep down in your soul, that you have outgrown where your at, then learn 1 new thing, and repeat the process, make it yours.

For those who are natural light photographers who always here the ever loving, “oh, your just a natural light photographer” comment with ever ounce of sarcasm it carries with it……chin up lovelies. Here is the thing, if you shoot natural light, ever changing, never constant light, and you produce images in camera 90% of the time that are spot on perfect…..your awesome…..and in the event all of your extra lighting equipment were to crash and burn suddenly, you would still know how to see the light bouncing in a room and own it, because you have not developed a dependency on other light sources…….or at least that’s what I am going with. Don’t listen to the nay sayers………..because truth be told, in reality, their voice sounds just like Charlie Browns mom, a droning sound with meaningless scrabble that never really changes much.

So moral of the story……………………….BE YOU……………………………AND NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR IT.