July 20 Photography: Specific Photo

Are you all having fun with photography during this week of Focus Challenges? My challenge for you today is regarding lifestyle photography. I am a big fan of lifestyle photography, of telling a story, of capturing a "real" emotion or moment.

Lifestyle photography has varying definitions, one being:

According to Wikipedia, lifestyle photography is "a style of portrait / people photography which aims to capture and document real-life events, situations, or milestones in an artistic manner and the art of the everyday."

For me, lifestyle photography is all about capturing the essence of the subject, the emotion, the interaction with others and/or their surroundings. Often, eye contact is not made with the camera as the subject may not be aware that that moment is being captured by the camera. They may be interacting with something or someone, oblivious to the camera. Those are the best moments!

As much as I can appreciate a well composed shot with great lighting, what I appreciate even more is capturing a great smile, a true smile, not a posed, uncomfortable smile or maybe a mannerism or stance that is unique to the subject was caught in the shot. Do the surroundings help to tell the story of the photograph? Are there props/items to help convey a meaning, to help tell the story of that moment?

Regardless of which camera you use or if the lighting is less than perfect, the photo will convey a feeling, an emotion, give a sense of "realness" that is more important than capturing that perfectly staged image. In years to come, it will be what the photo evokes in you that you will think about, what will make it a cherished photo, and not the technical aspects of how the photo was taken or how good the lighting was (although these are great things, they are not the most important to your family, your friends, your loved ones).

For this challenge, I would like you to take 1 or more photos to tell your story, to capture a "real moment" of yourself, someone else, your pet, anyone you choose.

I took these photos of Ella as we chatted, I had asked her if we could hang out in her room for a bit. She's used to me having a camera around her so it's easy to take photos of her but if she's too aware of what I'm doing, I'll get a fake cheesy kind of smile. That's not really "her". So sometimes I had to snap a photo very quickly when I saw a real "Ella" moment, so it wasn't always the best lit or composed shot but, you know what? I don't care. These photos remind me of her favorite things and it makes me smile.


Here's my layout I created with these three lifestyle photos of Ella.



Give it a try, take at least 1 or more photos to tell your story, to capture a "real" moment, and create a layout with your photo(s). Can't wait to see your page! Have fun!

THE RULES:

Please follow The Lilypad Gallery Guidelines: Layouts must contain at least 50% TLP products (Current or retired product from current designers; templates count as 15%.) Uploads must be less than 250K. List all credits; no off-site linking allowed.

 

@Kimberly_Wade Oh, this page makes me smile and warms my heart. So glad you played along Kimberly!

 

Also, @Kimberly_Wade ....to help you with posting your layout image to link back to the gallery post so everyone can leave some love on your awesome page....click on your gallery image to open it up, see the codes on the right side?

Copy this code "Share BB

 

@Kimberly_Wade After you have loaded an image to the gallery, copy that code, then go to the forum post you want to put it in and "paste" it into your reply. That's it.