The Glamorous World of Doing What You Love
[by Jenna Close]
Corporate photography….often when non-photographers find out this is what I do, they ask why I did not pick a more ‘glamorous’ genre in which to ply my trade.
I imagine they are thinking of Ansel Adams or Annie Leibovitz. I do not make my living shooting celebrities or landscapes. It’s not me. I shoot things like construction sites, solar panels, CEOs and factories. I LOVE this type of work, and that’s what really counts.
To me, the joy comes from taking something like a substation (which I consider one of the ugliest structures ever built by humans) and turning it into a work of art. I love having conversations with laborers and learning about how things are made. I love that when something is being built there are so many angles and lines with which to frame a photograph: steel beams, circular rebar, the way the arm of a drilling machine makes an arc across the sky…
Whatever you are shooting, the main ingredient must be love. Combine that with skill and you will be on your way.
Jenna Close used to ‘build things’ with her dad in the shop. Her favorite part was the marks the hammer made when she missed the nail. That’s why she’s now at www.p2photography.net.
