Personal work...

I've found that even photography can become "work" in the sense that its routine and once you start and get really good at shooting one type of picture someone else wants you to do the same thing for them and before you know it... you're shooting wedding cakes for the rest of your life, not that there's anything wrong with that. But not only does this scare the living daylights outta me but there's an easy way you can avoid being pigeonholed all together.

Enter... Personal work

Personal work must be a major part of your photographic life and development. If I only shot things that other people wanted me to I'm pretty sure I'd go insane. Even though commercial work pays the bills it can't always let you grow and try out new things. That's why for as long as I can remember I would come up with my own projects and ideas and execute them on my own time. Being an advocate of personal work has allowed me to develop my current style and given me a much needed creative outlet for my overloaded brain. Its also what I feel can define the kind of photographer you really are, not necessarily what other people think you are but rather what kind of photographer YOU think you are. And who am I?? I think I'm just another guy with a camera who wants to shoot it all.

- JD




Here's a triptych from personal shoot that I recently did in the studio with friend and model Michelle Zieky... Shot with my Canon Mark IIDs 24-70mm using a simple ring flash.

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