I was recently talking with a casual photographer friend of mine about photography. At some point in the conversation, she smirked and said, “Photography, to me, is like falling in love for a night.”
I quipped back, with a bit of unspoken judgment “You mean lust, not love, right?”
She shook her head. “No. Love. Not lust.”
That stopped me. I hadn’t heard that take before, from anyone. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it—or should I say, loved it.
Because, really, who says love needs to come with strings attached? Who says love has to be about permanence? That’s a cultural construct, not a rule of existence. We love moments. We love experiences. We love fleeting things all the time. And in those moments, that love, as surface and ephemeral as it may seem to many, is real, whole, and absolute. Photography, for many people, is just like this.
No judgment. Click.
A single frame. A single night. A single moment where your heart skips, where the world feels fuller, where you are completely present. You don’t have to analyze it, define it, or build on it. You just have to feel it.
This is the rush, gush, and blush of life and photography.
I think about my own relationship with photography. It has lasted decades. I have built my career, my reputation, and my sense of self around it. It is more than a one-night stand for me. It’s a lifelong commitment. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand her perspective. And many just like her.
You blissfully fall in love with photography….for a night.
Every time I raise my camera—my iPhone these days—it’s a fresh moment. A fresh emotion. A fresh connection to the world in front of me. The love I feel for each image is real, even if it doesn’t last beyond that shutter press.
There’s something beautiful about photography that exists in the moment. A shot taken for the joy of it, for the feeling it sparks, without the burden of what comes next. It’s an openness to discovery. A willingness to be swept away. It’s recognizing that you don’t have to own something to love it. You don’t have to print it, edit it, or even keep it. The act of capturing is enough.
Some photographers chase longevity. They seek impact, legacy, a body of work that will stand the test of time. That’s me.
Others, like my friend, embrace photography as a love affair of the moment. Both are valid. Both are beautiful. And, truth be told, even those of us who have built photography into the foundation of our lives still experience these fleeting loves—those chance encounters with a perfect composition, a perfect light, a perfect scene. We fall in love. It just so happens that some of us fall in love over and over again.
Photography doesn’t have to be about forever. It can be about right now. And sometimes, that’s the best kind of love there is.
Click.
Jack.
