There’s always a danger when using a “particular” as an example of a “universal.” Lifestyle and Fashion are broad categories within photography and the same as universal concepts. Bruce Weber and Collin Hughes are individual photographers which makes them particulars as opposed to universals. Any attempt to cite a particular (like Weber or Hughes) as a perfect example of a universal (like lifestyle and fashion) will inevitably be a bit confusing because no single photographer can ever truly embody a broad genre. However, there are individual photographers that have been historically associated with broad genres and that’s why I originally chose Bruce Weber. Weber is a good example of a photographer that has historically been associated with lifestyle photography over the course of many decades. On the other hand, Hughes appears to be a relative newcomer and has yet to prove his position with the test of time.

Generally, fashion photography is devoted to the literal depiction of an object (clothing) while lifestyle photography is concerned with exemplifying temporary appearances (events, gestures etc). In my opinion, photographers like Bruce Weber are good at producing both a literal depiction of objects and an exemplification of temporary appearances which qualifies him for the category of lifestyle/fashion. Meanwhile, photographers like Sahady and Hughes seem to be more concerned with temporary appearances than with literal objects and that might be why they could be considered more lifestyle than fashion. However, when a gesture or event is portrayed for it’s own sake and divorced from the obvious connection to a literal product or service, then the average viewer starts to question if there’s a purpose behind the photo besides just simple solemnization. That ambiguity is exactly what makes so many “lifestyle” photographs produced by amateurs so difficult or impossible to distinguish from regular snapshots. In fact, it’s possible that all successful lifestyle photography MUST be obviously connected to a literal depiction of a product or service. In other words, there may be no such thing as a pure “lifestyle” photograph because that would effectively be no different than a regular solemnizing snapshot.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lifestyle-Photography/507502069313731

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lifestyle-Photography/507502069313731

wanna join?

On the other hand Noah talks about Collin Hughes as his inspiration for ‘lifestyle’

While I certainly see some amateurism in Noah’s work I clearly see he’s trying to draw from Hughes. Should I be looking at Hughes as a lifestyle photographer? To me he’s certainly less ‘fashion’ which is what I would like to avoid. How to safely explore fashion photography without admiring only snapshot YET differentiate it from fashion photography?