With my current job I spend most of my time in front of a computer screen helping and resolving issues for my clients. When I started building my portrait web site, I never envisaged the additional time I would have to spend back in front of a computer screen, developing this site and undertaking multiple on-line courses. Currently, I think I am past the major hurdles, but over the next couple of months I am sure to find areas which need additional work.
One of the things that I must do, in order to optimise search results, is to 'blog'. Hence this page. But it's also something that I'am not good at, as my use of English prose needs work, and it does not help being a bit dyslectic either. Hopefully Google search engines will understand my prose and improve the results of searches to my site.
In the past I have focused mainly on the photography genres of Landscapes and Sports, but after the Kadooment of 2019, where I created a post on Facebook titled "Faces of Kadooment", I recognised that I really enjoyed taking images of people. This also transcended into sports photography and I realised that my sports photography also focused primarily on the sporting subjects faces and expressions.
On one of my business trips to Belize I met a lady photographer who specialises in candid street photography, mainly of under privileged adults and children. She travels the world working for NGO's and gets sent to poor countries to photograph the plight of families and individuals. The photographs she takes are then used by the NGO to raise awareness and funds. In discussion where her one night at the hotel, she asked me "what genre do I shoot?". I replied 'landscapes'. Her response of 'you better keep your day job' has resonated with me since. She then explained to me the pros and cons of being a photographer and the genres that are both rewarding personally and financially.
That conversation has always stuck with me, and with the realisation that I love photographing people I started investigating how to developing and sustain a portrait photography business. Even within portrait photography there're multiple genres - family and couples, boudoir, glamour, maternity, newborn - to name a few, so again it was a matter of 'deep diving' into specific areas to find a niche that suited me.
After a good twelve months or more of research, and on-line courses, both in portrait photography, editing and web-site design I started "Mike Evans Portraits". I have transcended to being a portrait photographer. I still go out to take landscapes but not as often, except maybe when I travel, but landscapes are primarily to keep me active taking photographs, and to keep understanding light in order to better manipulate it. I also still do sports photography, and I though that I should put sport images on this site as well, but for now I will keep these on a separate site along with my landscape images.
My studying focused on the art of contemporary portraiture, lighting, and creating painterly portraits. I have joined the Portrait Masters, where I submit images to be critiqued by very successful photographers worldwide, and also to gain accreditations. It also feels good to get confirmation that the images I take are of professional standard, but more importantly, these critiques are an incentive to constantly improve.
My style has evolved so I focus on photographing in a vanity fair style or magazine style but for the everyday woman. It's about taking photographs in whatever way they have dreamed of and producing images , that look as if they have stepped out of a magazine.
My goal is to provide an incredible photoshoot experience and take the best photographs that you have seen of yourself.
So a simple question. Do you remember the last time you looked at a photograph of yourself and fell in love with it? If you haven't why not schedule a photoshoot with me?
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