Maryland Photography // Pinterest: Friend or Foe?

Ah, social media. In an incredibly short amount of time, it has changed our world. And I’ll be the first to say - I love it! On a personal level, I am so grateful for the ability to keep in touch with family and friends who live far away. It feels amazing to celebrate life’s milestones with people - getting a new job, buying a house, having a baby. These are things we get to share with each other in the blink of an eye, no matter how far away we are.

​I am also a big fan of it on a professional level. Instagram is an excellent tool for sharing images and creating a brand for your business. Facebook allows for instant communication and easy sharing. Social media is amazing and I love it on so many levels!

That love extends to the well-known social media site, Pinterest. There is nothing quite like tapping that pretty, cursive “P” and being greeted by all of those colorful, hilarious, and useful images. I’ve been addicted since I first signed up, which was long enough ago that I was handwriting captions for every single thing I Pinned. Sigh. The good old days! And while I’ve been using it personally for a very long time, I’ve only just started exploring its usefulness as a business owner.

This doesn’t mean I haven’t encountered Pinterest on the business side of things! For anyone who has ever been involved with professional photography, especially wedding photography, you will understand the power of Pinterest.

In the world of social media, comparison is the name of the game. We spend a large portion of our time on devices looking at the lives of other people. What are they doing? Should I be doing that? Did I do that as good as they did that? When you’re preparing for a big event in your life, the research leading up to it can sound a lot like this!

Pinterest is full of gorgeous images of brides with perfect make-up. Portrait sessions with smiling children in pristine outfits. Newborns sleeping serenely in their parents’ arms.

And these are photos. These moments did actually happen! They are heart melting and soul warming and you want that for your big moment too! All of this is completely understandable. You’ve hired a photographer to capture a moment for a reason. You want it to be perfect. So you send all of these beautiful, wonderful ideas to your photographer. When I start getting these emails from clients, I’m not upset. I’m really not! Pins are a fantastic way for me to gauge the style of a client. It gives me a general idea of what they are expecting from their shoot with me, and it allows me to prepare accordingly.

All that being said, Pinterest can be a little dangerous. The Pins you see are of other people, in other places, at other times. It is almost impossible to perfectly replicate another photo you’ve seen. And don’t forget that you’ve seen none of the experience that went into it. That baby could have been wailing the entire shoot and that was the only moment when he was calm. Those parents may have offered ice cream to their kids seconds prior to the photographer pushing the shutter button. That beautiful bride with the perfect tablescape may be a model at a styled shoot!

My point is this: Pinterest is a great way to figure out what kind of photos you might want from your session, but be careful not to slip into the sinkhole of perfection. You are beautiful and so are your loved ones! Trust the process. You will get lovely, memorable images that you will treasure forever. Heck, they may even be “Pinterest-worthy”! ;)