Empowerment

So what is empowerment and what does it have to do with photography?  Webster’s dictionary defines empowerment as;

1. to give official authority or legal power to <empowered her attorney to act on her behalf>
2. enable
3. to promote the self-actualization or influence of <women’s movement has been inspiring and empowering women — Ron Hansen>

But what does it really mean to you and your everyday life?

Empowering others means giving them choices, giving them the opportunity to excel and to give back to their community. That community can be the neighborhood, the family, the workplace or just about anywhere they interact with others directly or indirectly. In essence you are giving others the chance to influence their lives and the lives of others.

So why is this such an issue? Why is it that we see advertisements for classes, seminars, etc. or the empowerment of others? Isn’t that something that we each do every day? One can only hope. The fact is that many people oppress others but do it in a way where they don’t even know they are doing it. We can get so caught up in trying to advance at work or to become successful that we push others to the side and repress their ability to move forward.

As people we are always trying to succeed, to do better, to advance ourselves so we can realize the benefits of success. By doing so we become blinded by our own drive to succeed. We struggle and push to move forward yet we never question what we are pushing against; quite often it is others who are also trying to take the same path. In doing this we tend to remove empowerment, to repress their success to advance our own.

By taking time to slow down and take a moment to help each other, to empower our fellows we could actually benefit. By helping others we change the push to a pull; we change from pushing against the flow to going with the flow of success and in doing so reduce the amount of effort we put forth to succeed. You might think that by not struggling, not fighting to move forward that you may get washed away. In fact the opposite is true. By changing the direction of your efforts you have the current of empowered individuals to help you along your path, this in turn helps you grow and succeed more quickly and easily.

So what has all this got to do with photography? It is more about giving back, giving to others and empowering people to be their best than it is about photography. However, if you didn’t notice, I am a photographer and I try to give back with the tool of photography.

Through photography I make the attempt to empower people by making them feel confident about who they are and what their goals are and I try to help them focus (get the pun there?) on their success. With Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed I have given hundreds of job seekers a moment to think positively, to be happy and smiling and this in turn can turn their attitude more to the positive, away from the “I think I can” and more towards the “Yes I can!” I hope this begins to empower them and gives them a chance to focus on what will be a bright and prosperous future.

That isn’t all though. I try to make the images that you, my clients, need to empower you in the project you are working on. I want to capture the images you want and need to project the message you want to send and thus empower you towards your own success.

Photography is a powerful tool and it can be used to do more than just make something or someone look good. Photography can send a message of glory, humility, strength, tragedy or success. An image of a person in a meadow of wild flowers sends a different message than one of a battle ridden neighborhood;

Who can we empower today with an image that sends your message?