Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Bender.
Brittany, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
To be totally honest, when I was growing up I never really thought of myself as creative. I always loved reading pretty much any story that I could find (Harry Potter was, of course, my favorite!), but I really never made a connection between that and seeing myself eventually become a creative storyteller. I always felt that the only way to be creative was through something like music, dance, or visual art, and I never really identified with any of those.
In college, I double majored in English Literature and Psychology. Looking back on it, both majors taught me to observe the world and then to unpack it, which I think really set the foundation for my approach to photography. When I graduated, I took the first job that I could find, which then led to a series of other office jobs. Nothing ever really felt right. Each job was always fine for a while, and then I would increasingly begin to feel unhappy. I decided one day to really take some time and figure out what it was that I wanted to pursue. I spent a few months doing strengths finder and personality tests and reading books and blogs about personal development. What I found was that I always kept coming back to storytelling.
I knew that I had always been inspired by photography and its ability to tell stories that feel so universal in such intimate ways, so I decided to try it out. I started with my phone, while I saved for a DSLR camera. I spent lunch breaks from work driving just about anywhere that I could to practice photographing things in a different light. I spent hours watching every YouTube video out there on intro photography even though I didn’t even have my digital camera yet. I wanted to know everything about it so badly.
Once I got my camera I practiced as much as I possibly could and started to build my business! I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to focus on weddings, elopements, and couples. I’m a sucker for a good love story. I’m the photographer who ugly cries at every wedding and couples session. I believe that to love someone is to embark on the greatest adventure a person is capable of, and I love getting to capture all of the little moments that tell those stories!
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I’m a destination wedding, elopement, and couples photographer based here in San Diego! My style of photography is to capture all of those beautiful in-between moments. The ones that will still hit you in the feels even twenty years from now. When I’m photographing a couple for their wedding, engagement, couples session, I look for those candid and emotion-packed moments that show their real love and their real connection. The moments that tell their love story in all of its joy-filled, tear-jerking, belly-laughing, soul-stirring goodness.
I want to capture all of those beautiful, messy, real moments, and I believe that to do that I have to be a professional third wheel. My hope is always to make my couples feel as comfortable as humanly possible so that we can capture what their relationship really looks like and preserve it in their photos forever. A lot of my couples have even told me that their couples session felt more like a date night rather than anything else!
My love for photographing couples in such a candid and unscripted way is inspired 100% by my own marriage. In 2013 I got to marry my best friend and the love of my life, Jeff. He is the most wonderful blessing in my life, and I am honored to hold the title of Mrs. Bender for the rest of my life.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
My biggest advice would be…don’t be afraid to reach out to someone! The worst that can happen is that they say no or ignore your request. If that happens, move on and don’t take it personally! They’re just not your tribe. Keep going until you find your people. In my experience, most creatives actually do want to connect and collaborate!
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can check out more of my work on my website or on my Instagram!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brittanyjeanbender.com/
- Email: brittany@brittanyjeanbender.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brittanyjeanbender
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brittanyjeanbender/
Image Credit:
Brittany Bender
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