In the world of taxes, mortgages, car payments, student loans, utility bills, etc. we—or at least myself—fall into the trap of forgetting to play. I don’t mean going out with friends or surfing your favorite break. The play I am talking about is the kind you enjoyed as a little kid. Growing up in a rural place, I often played naked in the backyard during a rainstorm with my GI Joes or I was pretending to be Tarzan climbing trees. While I keep my nudity to a minimum these days, I hope you get what I mean.
Often on an assignment, the deadline and the need to capture a moment for a client puts me in a serious mood. Focused and aware. This focus is rigid. When this rigidity begins creeping in, I feel stiff and the enjoyable part of my career, taking photos, starts to feel like work. Thankfully, I have the pleasure of creating with awesome people who always find a way to bring out the child in me and in this world. Often, these images are not the ones selected by a client, but they are the ones which help me snap out of the serious mindset, allowing me to create some of my favorite work.
To give a perfect example of this child-like fun, I was shooting landscapes and products for two different companies around Death Valley. The timing was critical for the light. I was in my head about the location (because I didn’t want others in the background in a popular place) and it was my first time working with both companies (and I was responsible for pushing their brand identity into a new market). As the light changed from golden towards midday, Hailey started to play in the sand. It reminded me of the playground at the lake I grew up going to. I asked her to start tossing the sand around.
The sand got everywhere! We had fun! We played! We were kids!
Once back to the van, I started going through the images. The morning session was solid, but the frames following our giant sandbox experience were the ones both clients selected. I am excited to say, both companies have been stoked with the boundary push of the for their brand, which has even lead to new client acquisition for both. Also, to nobodies surprise, both companies laughed at the sandbox images!
So, make sure to get out and have fun. Go play like you are a kid!