Wait, Where Are You?

It’s kinda funny how two people can be describing the same place but be in different places. Note to self: there are two areas with volleyball nets by the Santa Monica Pier.

So Daniella reached out to me about a shoot because she had seen some of my photos and of course I accepted because, well, why wouldn’t I? She had a large following and I loved the shots on her Instagram feed. We decided to meet at the Santa Monica pier and both described being on the right side of the pier by some volleyball nets. Well, looking at the ocean, I was on the right side and she was on the left, but looking at the city, she was on the right side…by some volleyball nets. Bit of chaos to start off the shoot, huh?

We talked a bit about photos and how we came to start out Instagram pages. She had nearly 50,000 followers on her page at the time of the shoot (she has more now) and I asked her why she had bothered reaching out to me since I only had about 200 or so. She told me that she scrolled through my feed and loved the shots that I’d gotten. That astonished me a little (it still does) because I sometimes look at Instagram in terms of followers and likes, i.e., the more you have, the better you are. She didn’t see it that way and instead looked at the shots and said, wow, I like these, I want to shoot with him. Weird, perhaps.

I suppose this retaught a lesson to me – look at the work, not the numbers. While numbers can and will get photographers brand deals on Instagram, the body of work still has to be good. I do photography because I love it. I love creating images and retouching them in post-production to make them look exceptional. I spend hours editing photos because it is what I love to do. The numbers and popularity is something that will come along with what I love to do.

DaniellaGreen-11 — Just a little more chocolate?

I won’t ever stop creating. It’s something I love to do and I want to keep learning and get better. I’ve found out that there is still a lot to learn and I am definitely willing and able to put in the work required to get to that next level.

The funny thing about that statement – the week I did this shoot with Daniella, I had 5 other shoots lined up. The only off day was the day after this shoot.