We collaborated with renowned photographers worldwide to create Artist Styles, a feature of Narrative Select + Edit that allows you to edit your images with professional signature styles in one click. In the Artists Styles Spotlight series, we catch up with each photographer to get the details on their exclusive Style and how it can benefit you. 

Wedding photographer Rick Liston is “a daughter raising, gin swirling, free diving, dance floor shredding, oracle of Yarra Valley weddings” who has jumped at every opportunity to explore and discover the world. He was awarded “Wedding Photographer of the Year” by ABIA and refers to himself as a ‘professional third wheel.’ He focuses on capturing the raw and unguarded moments.

He created his unique Style, “Afterglow,” to help photographers enhance the authenticity of a moment without overshadowing the photo.

Explain your Artist Style and what kind of work it should be used for.

My Style is the culmination of shooting for many years and looking back on those years of edits and only seeing the edit. It's something that I've become incredibly sensitive to now. I don't want that future version of myself to look back and only see the edit. I wanted to create a style that enhanced everything you're doing in camera, enhanced what the couple feels, making it about them and not overwhelming with the edit itself. 

There are some slightly muted tones to let your subject stand out. It's authentic to that moment and to your couple and the way you're shooting. Rather than trying to come in, dictate the mood and the vibe in the edit itself and create something that afterwards you might be looking back and going, what was I doing? So that's what I needed to create for myself and save everyone else that journey. I hope they can come on board and see that that's exactly what it does.

What feeling are you trying to evoke in your Style?

The feeling I'm trying to evoke is a dreamy elegance, where we can look and love the image itself, the subject, exactly what they're doing. You're not too aware of the edit itself, but you are aware that this is an enhancement of that moment, that they are allowing themselves to pop, to shine, to steal the show. The feeling I'm trying to evoke is one of what you shot in camera when you took that photo.

How are you currently using AI in your workflow, and what benefits have you seen?

The advent of AI completely changed my business. First starting with my editing, which I use now for every wedding, has helped me as a volume shooter. We have five associate shooters now shooting with us, get through that volume and still deliver a fantastic experience. In fact, my editing has gotten even better now that I have more time to devote to individual images.

And then, on the ChatGPT front, it's allowing my virtual assistants this superpower they never had before, where they can churn out incredible blogs. I can even dabble in the development of automated timelines so that they can use the GPT as a prompt. Like, what should I do for Rick today? That prompt comes from a point where it's a GPT that knows my business, knows who I am, and is trained on my work and words. So it really is this awesome superpower that enhances their ability to serve my business.

Why did you begin using or working with Narrative, and what drives your decision as you've come on board as an Artist Style? 

I remember somebody mentioning Narrative Publish in a Facebook group many moons ago and just being like, thank God. This is exactly what I wanted. I still use that to this day. There's not a better product. So that's what first introduced me to Narrative, and that became a big part of my post-production workflow. I was able to get a blog out to couples the day after so they could share it with their guests who had just seen me in action and could get them onto my website to look at the rest of my stuff. 

Once I had the pleasure of meeting James and him basically sprinkling his magic on my business in a pair of short shorts sitting by the pool in Bali, I was on board. I knew this was someone I completely trusted and invested in because he gave me that trust and investment of his time. I absolutely loved him for it and couldn't be happier to use Narrative and be a part of their future.