26 year old Photographer Sydney Edwards takes photos by creating comfortable relaxed sessions. The end result is natural, genuine photos.
Edwards explains “My artistic journey as a whole started with dance and movement…I started kind of capturing these moments in dance through photography. I started with shooting female bodies in different spaces…and that grew to people reaching out to me for portraiture, and that kind of blossomed into taking photos for high school seniors…couples…weddings… That’s how it all got started.”
Edwards explains what she enjoys taking photos of, “Sometimes I do couples, but I work best one on one…primarily I shoot people, but beyond that I love doing anything that is happening live…so performances and dance performances. Just capturing what’s in front of me without me needing to instruct someone or guide. That is probably my favorite type of work.”
When Edwards was asked what inspires her art she says, “Lately it has been color, and picking out locations in Laramie that really match and layer well with what a person is wearing. If you would look at my website, there is a lot of color stacked on top of each other.”
“I think having really simple color blocking is something that has been inspiring me a lot lately. Also peoples’ personality…the more open people are when I am shooting with them, the better pictures we get and it just keeps snowballing into this really relaxed casual and authentic photo session.” Says Edwards.
“I think the secret is to keep moving. If you’re just posed, standing, staring at the camera. You are going to feel awkward and your smile is not going to feel real. So throughout my photo sessions, it’s always based on movement prompts…I’m always saying things like, ‘grab the edge of your dress and kind of bring it back and forth’…maybe we do a little hair flip. Sometimes I say ‘rub your hands together or give yourself a round of applause.’ That kind of helps people have something to do with their hands and arms. We all feel awkward in photos. So the more we move, the more at ease we feel.” Edwards says.
“I think I get most of my work through Instagram…people usually dm me and I tell them to send me an email through my website, that way I have all the information I need to get started.”
To learn more about Sydney Edward’s Photography