Just about every moment of a photographer’s day is defined by love: the love in a couple’s eyes during an engagement shoot; the love two new parents feel for their first baby during a newborn session; the love from sunrise to sunset and beyond on a wedding day; the love you have for your work that pushes you to edit image #853 on a long, exhausting day. It’s all about love.
But when the time comes to write about it in bios and blog posts, this beautiful, incredible word gets repeated over and over and over so often that it starts to lose its meaning. By cutting down on the use of the word “love” when another word would work better, you can preserve the meaning behind it and use it sparingly to far greater effect.
So, the next time you write content for your website and are tempted to use the word love, try one of these 10 words on for size instead.
1. ADORATION
Ideal for describing a couple during an engagement shoot or wedding, this word encapsulates both a feeling of intense love as well as respect. It is also a great word to use in reference to clients and the time you get to spend with them. To use this word to its fullest, keep the “respect” angle in mind.
2. DEVOTION
This word, meaning “a strong love or loyalty,” is a perfect word to use when describing your relationship to your craft. Being a photographer sure isn’t easy, and sticking with it this far definitely displays the “loyalty” half of the definition. You can also use it to describe one of those “give her your jacket when she’s cold without her even having to ask” couples.
3. PASSION
This is one for those couples who don’t need to be told to kiss in front of the camera — the couples who seem more awake and alive when they are together. Meaning “strong and barely containable emotion,” this is also an ideal way to share how you feel about your work.
4. TENDERNESS
Infused with a gentleness and sweetness, this word is made for the quiet moments, like when the mother of the bride helps her daughter into her gown or when the groom reads a letter from his bride right before the ceremony.
5. AFFECTION
Like “tenderness,” this word also carries a certain gentleness along with it but with less intimacy, making it a great way to describe the feelings between new family members or between the couple and their wedding guests.
6. WILD/CRAZY ABOUT
If your writing tends more toward the informal rather than the floaty and romantic, go for this phrase to describe your passion for your art or the love between a couple, especially if the couple is radiating a barely containable, energetic joy.
7. ADMIRATION
Along the same lines as “adoration,” but with the respect part turned up to 11 and the love bit dialed back a little, this word is the perfect one to insert in the place of “love” when love would really be too strong a word. Use it to express how you feel about other artists (especially ones you don’t know) who inspire you and their work.
8. DEDICATION
If you’re looking for a word that screams commitment, this is it. You can’t go wrong using this word to describe your love for your business, your art, or your clients, especially when accompanied by an example of a time that you went above and beyond to deliver astounding results.
9. CHERISH
If there are particular moments you hold dear and never want to forget or certain people who helped you along your journey who you can never thank enough, to say you “cherish” them would be exactly right. This word, with its feeling of preservation and protection, is also uniquely equipped to describe the capturing of “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” moments to be revisited through your photography for years to come.
10. ENCHANTMENT
Sometimes, love feels like magic, and when it does, it’s time to pull this word out and put it to use. Especially great for first looks and first dances, this word is for moments when the world feels like it’s stopped spinning and the only two people on the planet are the couple in love.
