All those that know me well know my obsession with the power of WHY and Simon Sinek - he is in one word AMAZING - if you haven't seen his TED talk you need to check it out https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en
His why is to inspire people to do things that inspire them so that, together, each of us can change our world for the better. Seriously folks, how brilliant is that.
'We say WHAT we do, we sometimes say HOW we do it, but we rarely say WHY we do WHAT we do . ~Simon Sinek
My path on this WHY journey started years ago with a company who hired me on to fill in as Coordinator for an amazing group of ladies. I remember my first day thinking 'Oh boy this team is a bit lost' and that is when my husband introduced me to the wonderful world of Simon Sinek. I went on a journey of WHY with this team and it was honestly one of the most transformational team processes I had been through - once they were able to truly understand the 'why' of their role it shifted their way of not only 'how' they provided services and supports but 'what' they provided.
I think WHY we do what we do is where it really is at - it's what lights a fire under us- but it is also one of the hardest to get to because we get so lost in the WHATS and HOWS.
The world of photography is no different. I've been thinking about this alot - WHY photography? - WHY did I chose this path? WHY should you chose me as your photographer? WHY does photography matter? WHY?
What I have begun to realize more and more lately is that I can tell you WHAT I offer in terms of services and outcomes and HOW I offer in terms of experiences but to be honest the WHY at least for me is the most important factor but it is also the hardest one to answer. I have been working through it and wanted to share some of my process with you
SO WHY do I do what I do?
When I start to think about my WHY the following comes up for me:
- the power of what an image can do- it has the power to move us,
- an image has the ability to grab our attention and speak directly to our emotions.
- photography allows us to tell a story, it connects us or even reminds us of people, places or feelings.
As I am writing this I have realized that these are not my WHYS but my WHATS - these are what I hope to do- I hope my image will move my client emotionally, I hope my images will grab peoples attention, I hope my image is able to connect, remind or tell a story - but these are more outcomes - this is not WHY I do what I do - see I told you this was not an easy process :)
However, through this process my WHY does become a bit clearer I love to CREATE - CREATING is what inspires me - but I feel like I can go even deeper than that so I ask myself WHY do I like to create? - well if I think about the times that I have been most excited about photography- it is being apart of a moment that I helped to CREATE. I remember last year asking a question to a young boy while he was looking at his mom, I asked 'what is your favorite thing about his mom' and his response of 'her great big heart' created this magical moment between the mom and son - bringing tears to moms eyes and mine. It was beautiful, sweet and so genuine. So I do what I do because I love creating things..creating connections, moments, memories, experiences and stories and I love that photography allows me to do just that - CREATING MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS, MOMENTS AND EXPERIENCES THAT CAN BE TREASURED FOR A LIFETIME and that my friends is WHY I do what I do.