Are You A Northwest Tucsonan Trying to Figure Out What Style of Shoot You Need?

So you're looking for a photographer in Tucson, Arizona and there's only a million to choose from. Some people are calling themselves "lifestyle", "traditional", "storytelling", "mini", and "creative" photographers, and many do it all, but is there a difference? Yes! Does that mean that you are limited to only one style in a session? No! I usually aim to get one good traditional portrait and guide the rest to be as candid as possible. But knowing what all your options are will help you when your photographer asks the questions, "can you think of any other poses you wanted before we wrap up here?" and you have the inevitable brain freeze. So let's talk about it. Or just skip below to the free download summary.

But first, let's be silly about it

Bear with me. It was late at night (like 8:30pm). We had just put the kids to bed and I was thinking about naming photography packages after desert themes. Like maybe the basic package should be "Aloe" and the premium package "Saguaro", that kind of thing. And as most train wrecks do, the train of thought jumped tracks somewhere along the way so I wan't thinking about package names anymore, but thinking about naming the styles of photographs that are done at different shoots.

So here's the game: I'm going to tell you the names and thoughts I had about each package, and we'll see if you can match them to the different styles of photography described below. Hint: I threw in a bonus one that I don't actually talk about in this post, but will address briefly when you reach the end for the answers, so there is one extra.

My "style packages" would be named as follows:

• The Quail = you have all your ducks, I mean quails, in a row and know how to dress your best
• The Coyote = you're a little bit feral, a little bit shy, but you're curious about this photography thing
• The Mountain Lion = you're feeling confident and creative and waiting for the perfect time to strike with your ideas
• Gila monster = you're fast and elusive, and aren't sure about this whole "posing" thing
• The Rattlesnake = everything about you is stunning and with expert handling you can be captured memorably

Lifestyle Photography

Lifestyle photography is backyard baseball games, birthday parties, surprise proposals, dancing in the kitchen, going for a hike, unscripted real life moments caught on camera. While some direction can be given by the photographer, they are mostly acting as a fly on the wall to capture genuine emotions and interactions.

Lifestyle is candid, natural light, real-life settings, minimal posing

Storytelling Photography

With a storytelling session, a photographer will lead subjects into natural looking poses - hugs, kisses, dances, and snuggles, or maybe sword fights and discovering treasure, or possibly creating a work environment with shaking hands and typing keys. This is a popular choice for those who want those natural, candid photos, but without an actual event happening, rely on the photographer to create the event in a way for them.

Storytelling is emotive, narrative-driven, sequences or single powerful moments

Creative Photography

This title is misleading, because traditional photography can be every bit as creative as the next form and so on. All photography is creative. But for the sake of this post, creative photography, or special effects photography, is using special lenses, prisms, reflective surfaces, and lense filters to give special effects to photos. There's really no rules except what your imagination can come up with. I haven't gotten to play too much with this yet, but I do have a number of filters and mirrors that I have been itching to use so please ask if you have an idea!

Creative is conceptual, experimental, surreal or visually unique approaches

Did you match the package names to the styles of photography?

• The Quail = you have all your ducks, I mean quails, in a row and know how to dress up nice. Traditional Portrait Photography is for all you quails out there who have all your little quails (school, work, community service, dogs, cats, and babies) to care for and balance it all beautifully, only occasionally running back for a lost quail along the way or stopping traffic to count that you have it all together.

• The Coyote = you're a little bit feral, a little bit shy, but you're curious about this photography thing. Is Lifestyle Photography for you? We love to see a coyote in its natural habitat, chasing rabbits, corralling pups, and howling with its peers at inappropriate hours.

• The Mountain Lion = you're feeling confident and creative and waiting for the perfect time to strike with your ideas. Creative Photography takes patience and a plan before the shoot. Businesses and artists often have the big energy and ideas that do really well with these kinds of shoots to show off their brand.

• The Rattlesnake = everything about you is stunning and with expert handling you can be captured memorably. You feel anxious when posing and thing the camera is out to get you, but what you don't realize is we are all OBSESSED with you, if not a little terrified that you're going to hate us. You just need the right photographer to walk you through something that looks comfortable and natural and we're going to show you how striking you are.

• Gila monster = you're fast and elusive, and aren't sure about this whole "posing" thing. The one we didn't talk about - Mini Sessions. If you are feeling like a Gila Monster and always hiding from the camera because it seems dangerous but you also really wish you could come out and do what everyone else is doing, mini shoots are the perfect opportunity to give it a test run and realize how valuable capturing these moments and ideas can be!

So, which one fits your ideas best? Let's make it happen!