Simplify.

Like every other photographer who photographs weddings, I am currently in the middle of the busy spring season. And just like every other photographer who photographs weddings, I am starting to get tired. I am not complaining, but it is the reality that the season brings along with it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the need to simplify, though I admit that I don’t always have much clarity on what exactly that means. My business is already pretty simply: I’m a one-man-show. My contract is so simple that I will likely find myself in some sort of legal dispute at some point. My bookkeeping is lacking. I don’t even do this full time!

I think a lot of what has been weighing on me lately actually ties to my last post about slowing down and being present. Before I go any further, I don’t want to give off the illusion that I have some deep, pretentious and introspective cerebral offload to ‘wow’ you with here. I think my problem as of late is pretty straightforward.

I haul around way too much gear at weddings.

Thats right. Too many cameras. I see a lot of photographers carrying several cameras around these days, so maybe they have this figured out better than I do. Or maybe it just doesn’t work for me. I’ve got my digital cameras with different lenses hanging at each side of me, and my AE-1 around my neck. But I also need to bring the Holga to the portrait session because thats always fun! Oh, and I better throw this point and shoot in my pocket just in case! And oh! A medium format frame on the TLR would be fun! Better grab it!

This isn't even on brand for me. I have never been this way, so why am I like this now? Back when I was a full time guitar player, I pretty much played one (1) guitar the entire time. I kept the same pedals on my pedalboard and was never really interested in whatever the newest thing was at the time. If its not broken, what is there to fix? My thought process has always been that less is more, so why am I operating differently now as a photographer?

I worry that my lack of discipline around not having to use everything all of the time is actually putting me at risk of being less present and possibly missing a moment that I have been hired to document. Fortunately there is an easy fix to all of this, and one that I am hoping to implement effective immediately: eliminate distractions by using less stuff.

While this is a seemingly simple solution to the problem, I can't help but wonder why I feel the need to do too much to begin with. Is it our culture's obsession with hyper-consumption? Are we all just used to the fact that if we don't feel overwhelmed or burnt out that we must not be doing enough? Do I look more professional when I carry 6 cameras around at once? Is it the feeling that we must generate a certain type of "content" for social media? (Grim!) Am I just overthinking all of this? (Probably!)

I hope my honesty doesn’t worry you or deter you from wanting to work with me. And I hope that my work still speaks for itself. That said, I myself am forever a work in progress and I am perfectly comfortable being honest about where I am in that journey, and I am glad to have an outlet where I can share these thoughts and process them out loud.

As always, I try to make these posts palatable to everyone, even if you aren't interested in photography, or wedding photography specifically. Maybe you also feel like you're doing too much. Maybe you also need to simplify. Maybe you also need to pay attention to the people that are right in front of you and not the ones that only exist inside the bright rectangular light that only shows us bad news.

I often find myself curious about what it would be like to shoot an entire wedding using only one camera and one lens. I think I would love it. Maybe I need to offer a significant discount to a couple who will let me try it!