Why my galleries don’t flow

Let me start by saying, I LOVE seeing beautiful Instagram feeds, with an array of stunning images that flow from one to the other so beautifully it makes my heart sing.

Some photographers absolutely love their galleries to match perfectly. Making sure the lighting and colours are near the exact same from one image to the next- and that is wonderful! Trust me. I believe that we all should do what is right for us. If you love that then amazing- it looks absolutely beautiful.

But what if you don’t love matching all of your images so they are near identical? What if the pressure of that is too much? Or what if you just don’t want to?

Now I’m not talking about a series of images. For example I shot a Grandfather series of 4 images. I wanted these images to be in the same tones and lighting. Because it was a series that I knew would be best suited to ‘matching’ . So putting sessions like this aside.

If you have often thought about your workflow and it’s consistency or lack of then let me tell you a secret.

You do NOT have to have galleries that flow and are ‘consistent’

In this post I have shared a full gallery. All taken on the same day. With the same models. With the same camera. And the same light.

Do any of them match? NO!

Because why should they?

Every image of mine is hand edited as a complete individual image. I do not care what is before it or what is after it. I care about THAT image at THAT time.

Imagine you are with a client, this client is in her 30’s and she has come for a portrait session.

You greet your client, have a little small talk and get to work. She is in front of your camera, probably smiling, following your instructions as she eases into the flow of the session.

15-20 minutes later, the conversation is continuing and her trust in you is growing. You start to talk about why she is here, why she has decided to have photographs taken of herself.

And you learn a very personal story about your client, whether it be her mum has passed away and she doesn’t have photographs of her so wanted to leave this memory of herself, or she’s gone through a breakup or divorce and wanted to do something empowering. It could be she just feels great about herself right now and is proud of where she is at.

You now know this client on a deeper level, you know her story. You understand her.

Is your first set of 5-10 images going to feel the same as the images you have just taken during this conversation? Are the images after this conversation going to be taken the same way as before and during?

Every part of our session is different, so why shouldn’t our editing be the same?

Why shouldn’t our images stand alone?

I often get asked ‘what is fine art photography?’ And the truth is it’s different for everyone. But for me, it is an image that tells a story and provokes an emotion.

Let me ask YOU a question, is every image you take telling the same story?

You are here because you want to be a fine art photographer. The name of the group is fine art editing with Sweet Soul Studio.

Do you want to tell the same story in a whole gallery? Or do you want to tell the little stories that make up a person?

We are not defined by one thing that has happened in our lives. We are writing our stories every minute of every day.

It is so important in our photography careers to follow our own paths. My Instagram feed does not flow visually. Go and look at it sweetsoul_studio . You will see that none of my posts are planned for the flow of colour and light. But I love it. You can still tell it’s all my work. But I post what I want when I want because I honestly don’t have the patience to make sure everything is in the right place on Instagram.

I LOVE seeing beautifully organised Instagram’s. They look incredible. But that’s not me. And that is ok. Allow yourself to be yourself. When you stop following the crowd and follow your heart, your confidence will shine.