08/24/2026
A little reminder from one photographer to another: you don’t have to love someone’s style to respect the work that goes into it. 🤍
I recently came across a post from another photographer that was meant to be “a joke” about a certain photography style. And while I completely understand that everyone has their own preferences and sense of humor, it honestly made me think about how we talk about one another as creatives.
Behind every gallery is a person who has spent countless hours learning their craft, investing in education and equipment, studying light, editing, practicing, creating, and pouring pieces of themselves into their work.
Light & airy, dark & moody, true-to-color, film inspired, bold and colorful, documentary… every style is different, and every style takes intention. Just because something isn’t your taste doesn’t mean it’s effortless, unskilled, or lacking depth.
Taste is subjective. What one person loves, another person may not and that is completely okay. I don’t think we should all want to create the same thing. In fact, I think the beauty of photography is that we don’t.
What I do think matters is how we talk about one another.
We can have preferences. We can talk about our editing processes. We can educate. We can be proud of the style we’ve worked hard to develop. But we can do all of those things without belittling another photographer’s work or making their style the punchline.
There is room for all of us. There are clients who will connect with every kind of imagery, and there are photographers whose work will speak to people in ways ours never could, and I think that’s something worth celebrating rather than competing over.
I’m not saying this because I think every photographer has to love every style. I certainly don’t. I’m saying it because I genuinely believe we can be confident in our own work while still having kindness and respect for the people beside us in this industry.
Support your style. Be proud of your craft. Share what you’ve learned. But don’t make someone else’s work the punchline.
There’s enough room for all of us to create, grow, and be successful. I’d much rather be part of an industry that builds each other up than one that feels the need to tear someone else down to prove a point. Seeing a photographer make a post specifically joking about another style just reminded me that we can do better for one another. We can have different tastes, different approaches, and different clients without making someone else’s creativity the joke. 🤍
