You know how it feels like a bad thing when someone says your photographs are “pretty”? It's like they're saying your images are petty or surface-level or...not as important as real, "serious" work, right? It's interesting to dig into this a little bit, because it starts to break down with a little questioning. I mean, do we want to live in a world where the only subjects that count are hard-hitting, gritty, and awful? Would it be more valuable to be fed a constant diet of darkness? Is pain exponentially more important than healing? Should we put it on a pedestal and look down our noses at joy and hope? ...Really? If someone criticizes your work as "pretty," these could be good questions to ask in response (with kindness, of course). I think we're culturally conditioned to consider pretty as weak - and these questions can help shift a knee-jerk criticism into a more thoughtful conversation space.
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I remember feeling ashamed at one point when I was a young photographer, because my work wasn't political. Other photographers were out on the front lines, making work about the issues of the day...and I was spending all my time making pretty pictures of light and love. How embarrassing. Maybe it's because I'm 42 now, and I've had more time to see more horror in the world, but I'm fully on board with pretty now. Give me all the pretty. I'll defend it all the way home. ⠀
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Pretty pictures give us hope and a reason to live. They're a therapeutic respite from the trauma we've endured, the stressors of daily life, the brutality in the news. It's important to stay informed about what's happening in our world and to bring injustice to light - but not at the expense of pretty. If we give up pretty, we give in to sadness and fear. And then...what do we really have left?⠀
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So, never think your work doesn't "count" because you're photographing flowers, cuddly dogs, loved ones smiling, and glorious vistas. Where would we be without those things? Pretty is medicine. You're doing important work. You're reminding the world that joy is sacred, that delight is inherently valuable, that peace is at hand. I can't think of anything more powerful or worthwhile.