Professional Outdoor Lifestyle and Adventure Photography: From Family Sessions to Wilderness Expeditions

Outdoor lifestyle photography is about capturing the essence of life in natural settings. As a professional photographer, I have never stopped loving photographing beautiful families, whether the sessions are formal and posed or informal photoshoots that capture laughter, jokes, and tender moments. For many, photography started first with families—their own, and then friends’ families—and grew into a passion for capturing beautiful moments with all my heart.

The Shift to Outdoor Lifestyle and Newborn Photography

Due to recent global changes, many photographers have adapted their methods. For instance, some are only doing outdoor photography sessions because of COVID-19, whereas typically a newborn photography session would be done inside a client’s home. It is definitely a new challenge working with a mask on shooting exclusively with my long lens from 6+ feet away when I am so used to being hands-on with posing and directing clients. However, outdoor newborn sessions are often shorter and therefore less expensive than a typical session. During these sessions, we are able to provide professional photos by capturing authentic and genuine expressions of what it’s like to live in wild and natural spaces.

Understanding Adventure Photography

Adventure photography is a term that means many different things, depending on who you ask. For many professionals, adventure photography assignments involve planning a multiple day excursion into a wilderness setting with a group of great people. These projects are often some of the most interesting, demanding, and also rewarding types of projects. Heading off into the wilderness for extended periods of time requires detailed planning, a group of people you can trust with your life, and the ability to persevere through both physical and emotional difficulty.

The essence of this style is that the images feel real, like a day-in-the-life of a wilderness adventure. Some recent adventure photography stories have included:

• Trekking deep into old growth forests.
• Circumnavigating one of the last remaining tropical glaciers in the Peruvian Andes.
• Sea kayaking to a remote wildlife preserve in the Sonoran desert.
• Documenting big wave surfers on the north shore of Oahu.
• Hiking through the slot canyons of southern Utah and packrafting in an extreme desert.
• Trekking along the Na Pali Coast in Kauai.
• Sailing a trimaran deep into the Florida Keys.

The Impact of Quality Photography on Branding

Photography, like good design and copywriting, should be viewed as an investment, not a budgetary line item. In the fight to stand out in today’s crowded marketplace, professional photography is just another way to differentiate and win more business by looking better and more credible than your competitors. Good photography is essential to creating credibility, telling your brand’s story, creating a favorable impression, and engaging your customers.

Quality photography influences buyer behavior in several ways:

1. Creates a favorable first impression: Stunning photos can stop you in your tracks and make you take notice.
2. Makes your brand trustworthy: 88% of consumers research before they buy, and creating a viable impression through good photography is crucial.
3. Creates style: Good photography sets a mood and creates a style for your brand by utilizing people who resemble your buyer personas.
4. Communicates a story quickly: You can communicate more with imagery in seven seconds than in 1000 words.
5. Look better than competitors: If you want to be the best, you have to look like it.

Technical Principles of Engaging Photography

So what makes a good photo? To help the image look exactly right, photographers often follow specific rules of composition. According to Nikon, there are five rules that make a photo more interesting and engaging:

• Use the rule of thirds to balance the frame.
• Watch horizontal and vertical lines for alignment.
• Have subjects looking off frame to create curiosity.
• Follow leading lines to direct the viewer's eye.
• Look for patterns and textures to add depth.

By utilizing these techniques, photographers create emotional imagery that serves multiple storytelling purposes, whether for marketing, branding, or conservation organizations working to protect biodiversity.