Photography: Embracing Versatility

A few weeks ago, I posted the following on Threads.

I will probably never niche down - I like to many things

There were some awesome comments, and one of them suggested I should blog about it. So here I am!

When I started photography in 2010 (new blog post about that coming soon), I began with fashion. A few years later, I realized my best friend's uncle was also a photographer. This is when I started learning how he worked in a studio environment. This was the first time I began using professional lights as well. He was very into boudoir and fashion photography, so I also started taking more portraits and boudoir-style photos. Then COVID happened, and I began to get into street photography. Some might call it urban landscape photography because there weren't many people on the street to photograph, and of course, we had to stay 6 feet away. During that time, I started to look up other street photographers from New York, and in that moment, I wished I had found street photography earlier. At this point, I thought I had found my calling. Then, as the restrictions started lifting, I began to travel and love traveling. Depending on where I was, I took street, landscape, and urban street & landscape photography. I also had the opportunity to photograph two of my high school friends' weddings during that time. I had never shot a wedding before, but I am very grateful that they trusted me. During COVID, my fiancé started a business, which led me to do product photography. I didn't realize how hard it was to take interesting photos of a subject that doesn't move or talk. Now speeding up the story to 2024, in the last few months, I've done event, food, studio, street, product photography, and added video to my skills.

I understand why many people want to niche down. Is it easier to be put into a box? Maybe. Is it easier to fine-tune your website to find your ideal clients? Maybe. But unfortunately for me, my mind and what I become obsessed with changes week by week, month by month. Just earlier this year, I started learning about perfume (random, I know). I think it is fine to niche down and keep the type of photography you are passionate about to yourself.

For example, this year, I've been trying to shoot more in the studio. I still post street photography on Instagram, and a client of mine loved my street photos and wanted me to continue doing street photography for their business.

If there was one type of photography I think everyone should do personally or for business, it would be street photography. You learn so much in such a little time. Now that I’ve been doing street photography for a while, going into a wedding or a studio seems a bit easier. Of course, both have their challenges, but the way your muscle memory kicks in during those environments makes you feel less stressed about missing the shot.

While writing this post, I realized I might just want to do more weddings, either as a second shooter or primary, but I would only want to photograph more intimate weddings in black and white. Let's see if I can make this happen.