That looks reeeeaaaaallllyyy familiar

Every professional photographer has their own niche. Some do portraiture, some do events, others do weddings, and the list goes on. For those of us that do portraiture, and weddings, we bring our own style and innovation to the mix. Every now and again, we hit on a pose that really works for that situation. It becomes our hallmark and gets us noticed. And that's where the problem begins.

Recently, I've started to get a lot of similar jobs. When I first started Greene Light Photography, almost every job that I did was the first or second time that I had done that kind of job. I remember my first wedding/family portraits/concert/newborn shoot clearly. I remember how nervous I was for each of those and, subsequently, how happy I was with the results. That said, I saw room for improvement. So I improved. I read, I downloaded, I upgraded, I sought counsel. Now I know exact WHY some of the poses that I used early on were successful and how to recreate them with other people and get even better results.

But where does that leave my original clients? I wrote a blog about using other people's ideas for your own shoot and how it puts you in a quandary as to how to use the idea without plagiarizing (click here for that blog post). Well where is that line when it's your OWN idea? Are my clients who thought that they got a one of kind photo now upset when they see me use that same technique on another subject? Would they be more upset if they see it done better than their original?

As a photographer, my job is to constantly come up with new and innovative creations for my clients. For the record, I work really hard at not repeating iconic poses and images. However, what am I to do when a client REQUESTS a particular pose because they saw it in all of my advertisements and on my website? It would be crazy for me to say to a customer "I'm sorry. I only did that picture for that client and I promised that I would never recreate it!" That's not logical to me but it very well be what my original client wants me to say. I almost feel that I would lose that original client because they chose me because they WERE going to get a one of a kind type of picture. Or is being the first person ever photographed in that way enough to appease them.

And you just thought we showed up with our cameras and started taking pictures...

Well off to the next frame...staying in focus.