For the love of people: photography and law

If you’ve been reading a while, you may have noticed some flip flopping on my part.

Law school: yes, then no. Boston: Yes, then no. Radish: yes, then absolutely yes!

I didn’t say I flip flop all the time, just a lot. It also might seem like my photography business has come out of nowhere, and that might be partially correct.

When I was a kid, it was my dream to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos one day. That’s totally normal, right? I’m sure we all had our eccentricities. Why did I want to attend? As a starry eyed kid, I really felt like I could make a difference if I worked toward being put into a position of power. I thought that if I could just talk to some of the world’s most powerful people, I could convince them that aid in developing countries is utterly necessary.

I was a starry eyed kid, yes, but I haven’t outgrown that. I want to go to law school, and I also want to have a really good reason for going. It might be the idealist child in me that feels like I can do a lot of good with a law degree, but I really think it’s true. For most of my literate life, I have had a deep interest in human rights–I was the kid arguing against the death penalty, fretting over poverty, and worrying about children begging in the streets of Mexico. I’m still that way, but my concerns are more pointed now–war criminals, genocide and starvation really rub me the wrong way. I keep looking at other programs in policy studies and international relations, but it is law that keeps drawing me in.

Now, how do I reconcile my interest in pursuing a law degree with my interest in furthering my photography business?

I didn’t know, and this was something I was really grappling with recently, so I decided to hash it out with Eric, who was, of course, able to pinpoint the connection so very quickly.

When I am taking a picture, I am looking for the best in someone. When I click the shutter, I want that moment to capture, as authentically as possible, who that person is in that moment in time. I want them to look at their pictures and know that they matter, that someone has connected with them in a real way. I want the portraits I take to be honest and pure, while whole-heartedly respecting the dignity of the subject.

I think that if I didn’t have a deep rooted compassion or empathy for all human beings I wouldn’t care about taking a true portrait. I would just snap away, trying to achieve some aesthetic standard. Last weekend, at a Discovery Workshop in San Francisco, I had the marvelous opportunity to have a portrait session with a local. I had some doubts beforehand–I had never met or talked to this person, yet I (with another fabulous lady from the workshop) was supposed to go to her house, get to know her, and get great portraits.

My doubts were for nothing. We sat down with her and got to know her on a raw, human level. She shared her pains and joys of the last year, and I was honored that she let us come in so deeply. She had such a beautiful spirit and going through this process reminded me what exactly it is that I love about photography. I love the people I encounter, I love absorbing their stories and translating that into an image.

The picture is small, but there will soon be larger ones on my photograpy website if you’re interested.

My fundamental reasons for loving photography and law are one and the same. I have a passion for making sure that people’s stories get told. All stories are beautiful, and many are painful. I feel like it is my duty to contribute to our small moment in history by sharing those stories in whatever form I can, whether it is seeking justice in war tribunals or listening to a subject before clicking the shutter in a garden. The most important thing is that those stories don’t get lost in the chaos of passing time. We all matter.

So yes, I may be a flip flopper, but I am proud of it.

What has caused you to flip flop?

Tagged as: authenticity, law school, photography