I realize photography can be a lot like music, poetry and painting. The mood of it changes as the artist changes through their life experiences.
Life is beautiful. It is full of details and of stories. Life is a one and done kind of deal. It doesn't let you re-do it over and over again until you think you get it 'right'. You just have to live and experience the good and the bad and learn from both.
I recently spoke about how surface based photography has always been the mainstream for many consumers of photography. They don't desire anything more than a pretty photograph and perhaps, maybe, it is because this is what is perceived as expected among the majority of photographers.
I can recall starting out as a young photographer.. I too, focused more so on superficial and surface based images until I matured with my craft. I feel that all photographers, in a way, start out as a surface based photographer until they grow and understand the power photography actually has and this can only happen through life experiences and the countless hours spent in photography.
Now that I am a seasoned photographer and have matured in my craft and in my vision.. it has become all the more harder to return to the more superficial images that I once created.
I don't think the majority of consumers and clients have grasped the power of photography because they don' t study it, live it or learn about it.. So I don't expect most clients to ever get past the surface of photography.. but when I do meet a kindred client that understands the depths of photography, it makes my heart full with hope and excitement!
Photography is much more complex and deep than many people give it credit for.