The Art of Lifestyle Photography

ON HOW LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF EXISTENCE, IN THE WORDS OF AABIYAH ZEHRA

“I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.” – Diane Arbus

What is Lifestyle Photography, you may ask? Scrolling through your Instagram feed, you come across this beautiful photograph of a mother, cradling her child in her arms- that’s Lifestyle Photography; a portrait of a boy in the street with spellbinding eyes- that’s Lifestyle Photography. Everything related to real-life events and emotions that can be encapsulated in the form of a photograph is called Lifestyle photography.

Photograph by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

This form of photography is the craft that requires its pursuer to have a vision for stories within the mundane things of life. Normally, we do not look at that little, old table in the corner of our living room which has been through use and disuse and stood through trials of time as anything special, but if you ask a storyteller, that table could have belonged to an ancient cottage and could’ve been used as a stand for a handmade scented candle, or a side table holding the monocle of an old man- a plethora of stories behind just that one table.

Similar is the interaction of a photographer with the eyes of every person they come across, eyes that hold many untold stories in them. Photographers wield about themselves an ability to alter the perspective of those who stop to look at their art. With their camera in hand, they can change the world. As Alfred Stieglitz said,

“In photography, there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.”

What a well-composed photograph can tell, the world may not see without it.

Photograph by Sai De Silva on Unsplash

Sitting in the comfort of your own home, you wouldn’t necessarily know or wonder about the life of people living in slums, struggling to get their daily bread. But if you come across a photograph of a slum boy during your daily Instagram scroll, it makes you stop to think and be grateful for what you have and possibly create in you a desire to give back.

By Aabiyah Zehra