Today’s sort of a personal post. Okay, it’s more than sort of – it’s a really personal post.

Being an artist is one of the most freeing jobs in the world – we’re able to create, bring joy, document life and show the world what we see. Most artists have a natural gravitation toward the arts – sure, there’s something to be said of training and education, but I feel like experience is the best teacher for us. And in order to grow as artists, we have to push ourselves to be better, to try new things, to allow ourselves to let our experience guide us to becoming something and someone better than we were the day before.

But as a professional artist … it comes with a lot of expectations, and with expectations comes the pressure to create art that is worthwhile and of value – not just intrinsically, but monetarily.

I think every artist has a comfort zone. I love to paint – but I literally paint the same image over and over again (a sunset, with a boat, with a man in a large hat in the boat). I’m not sure why I do this – but I do. I have since I was a kid … it’s my comfort zone.

As a photographer? I can’t let myself stay in that comfort zone. That’s how you become stagnant and repetitive … and being an artist is all about exploration and being adventurous with the tools at hand.

This weekend, we strayed far from our comfort zone. The wedding we shot in the East Bay area was not only at a venue style we’re not used to shooting at (a vineyard), it was super dark due to low lighting inside but also dark and cold outside due to the lovely rainstorms from El Nino. The shots we had been dreaming of with the beautiful sunset and vineyard grounds … totally out of the picture. The ceremony was lit only by floating candles and champagne-colored up lighting, with no option for flash as it would disrupt the mood (and would take away from the romantic vision our bride had for her ceremony). There was nowhere to bounce light in the grand ballroom, since the roof was painted black. There were cultural and language barriers, since our groom’s family was from the Middle East.

There was nothing comfortable about shooting something so far outside our normal zone … And you know what? It was literally the best wedding of our career.

We sat and looked through the hundreds of photos we took yesterday, and I couldn’t help but get a bit choked up. Not just because the bride and groom are our dear friends (or because her sister is one of my best friends), but because we did it. Because we were forced to do things we normally wouldn’t have done, because we had to think outside the box, because we had the opportunity to get outside of our comfort zones and make something great.

So today …while I appreciate my comfort zones … I’m even more grateful for the opportunity to create something great by stepping outside of it.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog!!