Beauty in the Everyday: The Romance of Lifestyle Photography

It really is quite a treat to be drawn into a photo that seems to tell a full story. I love an invitation to ponder the clues and details of a scene, or imagine the dynamic of a couple. Visual storytelling is enticing, and that’s exactly why lifestyle photography is such an engaging tool to be used in professional settings (like selling your products and services), or personally (for instance, in milestones like your wedding).

Lifestyle photography can be defined as a style of photography that aims to capture real-life events in an artistic way. For business owners, this means that your products, services, and brand experiences are grounded in a setting that conceptualizes how wonderful it might be for your potential customers to have you in their own lives. It invites the viewers to imagine what it’s like to actually engage with your brand.

There are a number of national and local brands doing away with the white backdrop and perfectly styled products in favor of real, raw, and less stylized images of their offerings in application. And that’s because sterility and perfection are hard to relate to, and don’t do much to give your viewers’ imaginations the fuel they need to invoke the other senses.

Let’s think about tea for a moment. 

Does this product shot of Asheville Tea Company’s Asheville Grey blend compel you to brew a steamy pot and savor it at once?

​And how about these images? Are they enticing you, inspiring you to imagine the smells, the taste, and the feeling of a warm mug of herbal tea in your hand? Do you begin to envision the sunshine on your back as you read a book and pour yourself a second cup of earthy black tea infused with the floral sweetness of calendula flowers? Are you starting to crave a lingering chat with your best friend, and the sound of birds chirping serenely as the mug rests in your palm?

It’s pretty clear that the second set of photos accomplish so much more than the first, because it offers a pretty excellent experience along with the featured product.

Similarly, using lifestyle photography in your personal shoots to document your wedding, engagement, or other personal milestones provides intimate context, sparks memories, and becomes much less about the aesthetics and so much more about the personal connections.

Lifestyle photography in personal settings creates images that are less posed and structured, and much more contextual. They document the way you look at your partner when they tell a joke, how you hold hands when you are sharing words of support, or how the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom exchange glances over dinner. In lifestyle photography, intimacy is valued over perfection every time!

I am drawn to the endearing and natural version of events and would love to help you find the romance in the everyday. If you’re inspired by authenticity, and you are ready to capture the experiential details of your life or business in Asheville, NC, then let’s talk. I invite you to consider the beauty of imperfection, and to allow a less controlled, sometimes messy, and definitely more honest portrayal of your life and work to go out into the world. You may be surprised at just how deeply it resonates.