When you feel emotion, what environmental factors support you to express them?
Is it the intensity of the emotion? Is it the people that surround you?
The older I get the easier it has become for me to open up and express the emotion I am feeling. As a teenager, when I felt the urge to cry, I would work hard to keep that emotion inside unless I felt 100% comfortable to express it.
This is Janezza and her father, Omar. At the time of this shoot, Omar was preparing for deployment. During the shoot, I shot each child with their father. When it came time for his eldest daughter to embrace her father, she became emotional and began to cry. The father worked to comfort his daughter and I was fortunate to capture it. I was taken aback with the strength of this young woman. She felt her emotion and she shared it.
These are the moments we treasure as parents. This the environment I work to create when I spend time with my clients. As a photographer, I do not have the luxury of spending a lot of time with all my clients prior to a shoot. In the short period of time I do have, I create a safe environment by putting my camera down and connecting with my client. I am genuinely thrilled to be there, so I express that with my smile and laughter. I work to communicate with each person individually, so they feel comfortable expressing themselves with me.
When my clients feel welcome to express their emotion, I have succeeded in my role. I have built a relationship of trust with my client. I am invited in to capture their story. I become a part of the environment that they deem safe.
The only difference is that I just get to bring my camera along to capture it.
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