Paige Young
Artist. Photographer. Professor.
My Style
I consider myself an artist more so than just a photographer. I love to create but I also love to story tell. I believe there is a difference between taking a picture and capturing a photograph.
I love to stage beautiful fine art styled imagery, but I also love the raw documentation between people at events. Going into weddings or family portraits looking for, an anticipating, true laughter, last hugs, moments of joy or sorrow is what fuels my passion for my job. With that being said I love editing these moments in the way they were seen and felt, but I do not alter bodies or compositions of our natural state. How unfair it is that we would have to compete with a version of ourself that never existed?
“Keep onto every photograph. Even if at first it bothers you, relook at it in a month or a year and most likely your mind will think differently.”
Who am I as a person?
The answer to this question isn’t such a big deal because in the end I can mold with anyone to get my job done professionally. However, I am a very OCD high strung person when it comes to my daily life and organization of my business, but I am a very laid back photographer. The more I am relaxed, the more my clients are as well. A lot of photography depends on the level of comfort between myself and my clients. I am the most prideful on the subject of comfort and appreciation of my clients.
I exhibit a ton of fine art work that revolves around the subject matter of equality, social justice as well as eating disorders and dysmorphia. My hard personal past with these subjects have made me an even more thoughtful photographer when it comes to inequality or insecurities. This lends its way into the wedding industry, as it has typically been very heterosexual and white representative based, and I seek in my daily work to mend that gap and represent all body types, races, genders and sexual identities.
I have been published over 200 times in wedding blogs and magazines, have photographed over 350 weddings, and currently teach photography and art at Grand Valley State University to college students. Photographing weekly is a beautiful way to continuously make art, and teaching daily reminds me of the importance of it.
