You’ve just gotta believe

In a world of infinite brands the challenge we face isn’t one of possibility. It is one of probability. Not whether something can be done. But what needs to be done to get there. Every business is an opportunity. But chartering a path to get you from point A to point B is harder than ever, and in the face of the uncharted, where all possibilities appear equally probable, it is belief that will power it all.

There will be this system and that. This way and that. And a lot of roads are going to get you to Rome. But Rome isn’t what matters. What matters is how you get there, because that’s going to tell you what you need to know. Why do you take the pictures you take?

Now, go further. Story isn’t enough. Emotion isn’t enough. The moment isn’t enough. Why do you do it? Go further still. My idea of story isn’t yours. My idea of emotion isn’t yours. My moments aren’t yours. How do we decide where to point your camera? What lens to use? What the technique is all for? Because this is the real issue. We all have reasons we do what we do. We don’t always know what they are. Some we’ll never uncover, but if you stay the course and untangle the threads, many will become abundantly clear. And those answers are everything.

Common conception tells us we either do it for us or we do it for them. You either serve yourself or you serve others. If you serve yourself, you do it for ego, an artist imposing his will on the unsuspecting. If you do it for others, you are a tool, a servant with no vision and value of self. Neither is the truth. The question shouldn’t be whether we can serve ourselves and our clients. The question should be why this is a question at all.

A healthy business is a business in alignment. The goals of your client should align with the goals of your business. Clients are our other halves. It is not us or them. It is us and them. We lend them our eyes. They lend us their world.

If we remove ourselves from the picture, we are left with formula. We lose the value of a lifetime of instinct, resulting in a product that is too rigid to reflect the intricate complexity and beauty of the real world. If we put too much of ourselves in the picture, we lose the moment. The imposition of our views become more important than the power of the stories we capture. In once case, we simplify reality and lose belief. In the other we simplify belief, and lose reality.

The confusion lies in the distinction between art and style.

Art is not ego. It is not indulgence. It is communication. It is our most personal way of expressing thoughts and ideas, and it is powered by belief – decisions about how to best communicate the values we observe in the circumstance around us. Style, on the other hand, is a look. A way of doing things. It is the result of art, but it is not the art itself. You can steal the style. You’ll never steal the belief.

Because the reality is all good is not created equal. And this isn’t because some things are better and some things are worse. No doubt, some are, but that’s an issue for another day. More to the point is that one good is not interchangeable with another. And the more specific you get, the more clear this becomes. You lift up your camera, you point your lens, you are intrigued by the children playing in the corner oblivious to the significance of the moment as the bride puts on her dress. You notice the light falls beautifully on her bridesmaid, a perfect match for the joy she wears on her face. What’s your picture? If you want emotional and idyllic, the kids don’t belong. If you want humorous and real, the kids make the picture. Both can work. But only one can be yours. Why do you take the pictures you take?

The truest value of the image isn’t to be found in style nor in occurrence. Style gives us a feel but no reason to feel it. It is everything in context. It is nothing without it. Occurrence tells you what happened, but not why you should care. Photography is too selective a medium to be powered by that alone.

The value of what we do lies somewhere else. It may arise out of occurrence and result in a style, but the force of the image comes from the space in between – the combination of observation and belief. This is what it really is to take a picture. To dig into a moment to find that thing that counts in a way that every fiber of your body allows you to understand and to marry it with everything you know about how the world should be.

Believe in belief. It will tell you what technique to use, what style to apply. Beliefs let you decide how you want to communicate. Whether to make a picture intimate or removed, witty or personal. You’re not just paid to capture something here and there. You’re trusted to make choices about what is valuable. But at a certain point, when it comes down to it, the only thing that’s going to tell you what is valuable are your own values – that’s the shorthand to everything you’ve learned in life. They will let you serve your clients without violating your self. They will serve as your guide from point A to point B. And best of all, they’ll always be with you, the entire duration of the ride.