My relationship with shooting lifestyle starts in 2008. Where as a lot of types of photography are categorised either by the content or their purpose – for instance, fashion could be editorial or architectural as real estate; lifestyle is more the approach and the attitude than anything else.
Lifestyle is capturing people as in everyday life, almost documentary and not necessarily with much connection to the camera. I termed a definition – fun, natural and relaxed. Any photographer “worth their salt” should be able to build a relationship with those they are photographing. It allows them to feel relaxed, capturing them naturally. Natural smiles, expression and emotion. Have you ever seen a portrait and thought they look really stiff and they look great? Probably not, you will prefer the subject to look natural and unposed. I started shooting lifestyle with studio family portraits. Being able to tell stories and give people a fun time, yet capturing naturally. As portrait sessions, they are truthful. Involving things they do and are actually interested in. The art is set-up the idea, then capture naturally. Just wait for the great shots to come, rather than try to recreate what you may have seen elsewhere – it will just look fake! There is a process involved to make it work.
I have done thousands of photoshoots with a lifestyle inclination. For the purposes of marketing, you can include people to help connect the audience to your product. Show the product in use and how it can be used. You can have a mix of both images with people and without. You can use lifestyle to create images for your hotel, real estate, yachts, vacations, food, club, restaurants or whatever else you can think of! Only a fraction of what I do goes on the website.
360º interactive lifestyle fashion photography
