What is Fine Art photography?

One of the most common questions I get is “What exactly is ‘fine art photography’?” It’s a great question, and it’s a term that you don’t hear so often.

First, I’m a portrait photographer, which means I love people. I love observing interactions and capturing connections. This is my favorite part of what I do. You’ll notice that many of my subjects don’t look directly at the camera. I’d much rather capture you, connected to your loved ones, enjoying a moment with your children or family or best friend; or by yourself in a moment of thought. When we think about our loved ones, those are the kind of moments we’ll want to remember.

 

When my subjects are looking at the camera, there’s usually a very specific purpose and a connection. I love how proud this little girl looks to be with her Mom and soon-to-be baby brother. Her look gives you a sense of how she feels in that moment, and I love imagining what this image will mean to her many years from now, when she is grown up and ready to have her own children.

Fine art sensibility is difficult to define, but as a portrait photographer, it means that my work is a bit more artistic than what you’ll find from others. Much of my shooting is intuitive, but I use unconventional compositional techniques like negative space to enhance a person’s features and expressions. My artistic inspiration comes from many of the great masters of film, and my own work — in black and white and presented to you in its fully processed, final form — has been said to remind people of classic film photography.

What does this mean for you?

When you look at your beautiful images, perfectly framed and placed on your walls, they won’t look like the family photos you’ve seen time and time again. There will be something new in the image every time you see it. An expression or connection will take you right back to a moment in time, a certain place in your life, and there won’t be anything “standard” or “plain” about it.

 

I think about all my images as if you’re looking at them 20 or 30 years from now. When you look back, your makeup, clothes & hair won’t matter nearly as much as the connection you had with your family, with the happiness you felt at embarking on a new phase of life, with the joy and love that you remember feeling. Because these are the things that make photography timeless, and that’s why these are the things that my photography is really about. And these are the things that inspire me to make great art for you and for your family.

 

Michelle Kirkland, fine art portrait photographer

972.768.6457