I’m always nervous to use certain language to define my work, because I’m not sure if it really is the way that I’m describing it, or if other people see it that way.
What makes something editorial?
When are you “documentary style” and not just getting candids?
What makes something lifestyle? If I’m a lifestyle photographer but also like to do portraits sometimes, would I be a lifestyle and portrait photographer?
I want to niche down and really be straight forward with what I’m offering and my approach, but often times I’m really not even sure what box I fall into.
Something is editorial if it is a series of images that conveys a main theme. Most editorial sessions are fashion, usually consisting of 2 or more models, with multiple wardrobe and background changes, but shot in the same style and same theme as a “set.” I may be wrong, but editorial almost always refers to a set of photos.
Documentary and lifestyle are almost the same, but I feel documentary is grander in scale. Like lifestyle documents a person’s life, but documentary might capture a project or a team or an event of some kind. Something less personal and more public in interest. Kind of like the difference between a journal and a biography, if you will?
For me, I didn’t feel my work always fit in with fine art, and it didn’t always fit in with conceptual, so I just call myself a conceptual portrait photographer. It works. 😅