Moms With A Camera, or MWAC

[abraxas]

I think MWAC sounds a little bit -hot- and if there were MWAPB (paint brush) I'd hire them to come and paint my house before I'd rehire the NCPWAPB (Nin-Com-Poops With A Paint Brush) like I did last time.

And if they did a good job, I'd hire them again, and again and again. Everytime the house needed painting, or everytime they could do a better job than I could. Just like I only work a day or two every week, I don't care what anybody does with their off-hours as long as they produce what I need. Likewise with my off-time, it's nobody's business- but I have to produce what my clients want.

Good luck to anyone with talent.

 

[gmarquez]

MWAC isn't very nice. That's a derogatory term, it's not fair, and it's not very descriptive. There are a lot of talented mom/photographers

Forgive me, I meant no disrespect...to me, a Mom With A Camera is a very difficult job, mostly because of the "Mom" part. I was only using the label as a shorthand way of addressing the issue.

Since we are starting to put people in little boxes.. MWAC

(ZD, see above...it was for convenience).

On "competition,"...if you think that "MWAC's" are an example of consumers failing to recognize quality and being mislead into buying cheapo junk - then you should be upset. On the other hand, if you think that it's an example of people filling a gap in the market (low-price photography) by offering a decent product at a lower price, then you'd like it.

Very well put. (I myself think that it's "people filling a gap").

Edit: Using photography to socialize isn't bad, but remember I'm borderline autistic, so I really wish people on the street wouldn't use photography to socialize with me, or think that because I have a camera, I must be part of the party.

 

[gmarquez]

I think MWAC sounds a little bit -hot- and if

This whole thread is going downhill FAST.

 

[zendianah]

Forgive me, I meant no disrespect...to me, a Mom With A Camera is a very difficult job, mostly because of the "Mom" part. I was only using the label as a shorthand way of addressing the issue.



(ZD, see above...it was for convenience).




GM -- I get it now... Maybe I type faster than I read?

 

[abraxas]

This whole thread is going downhill FAST.

Thinking of the title of the article, MWAC got folks to read it, and the controversial title got folks talking about it. That's talent.

Answer to the original question; Yes, I'd take them seriously. Better be good though.

 

[RacePhoto]

I would expand this to the average world consumer.

... and since it is not at all easy to use, so many ... lets call them carefully "not-very-outstanding images" are produced. And those who take those images are often not aware of it.

I know many of my images are very mediocre, OK, I took them, but at least I know they are not high quality.

I'm in the same boat. Keep in mind that every kid in a basement or a garage is going to be a rock star some day.

MWAC is some journalists idea of a way to make a story. This isn't any different than the 60s when SLRs became very affordable and good. People were upgrading from all kinds of cameras to something better.

How many people have you known who sold Amway, ran a bead business, did some kind of home project business to make money on the side, and have a good time as well. That's what this is. Another minor venture for people who want to do something besides watch soap operas and sit on the couch. Mom's with scrapbooks, Mom's selling cosmetics. Mom's selling nutritional items. Mom's making jewelry... Some take pictures!

What gets my goat the most is a friends wife, picked up a
Z3 and took some pictures on vacation. She's winning local contests and making composites with Photoshop. People like that "REALLY" **** me off. Because she's got a good eye and takes better pictures in two years, than I have in 30 years, and she's using what's almost a point and shoot camera.

Back to what I should have for a tag line. A camera never took a great picture, the person operating it does that. You can have 1000 MWAC's and I still think it's a contrived article, but some are going to be very, very good, many will just point and shoot. No big deal. This is not news. It's Olds! :thumbup:

Doesn't it also mean Man With a Camera?

 

[Tomeboy69]

I'm in the same boat. Keep in mind that every kid in a basement or a garage is going to be a rock star some day.

MWAC is some journalists idea of a way to make a story. This isn't any different than the 60s when SLRs became very affordable and good. People were upgrading from all kinds of cameras to something better.

Right on! Find an industry that hasn't gotten more affordable and more user friendly. I DJ (actually spin House music). I have 20+ years of beat-matching skills. Now a kid can go out, buy a dual CD player with auto beat matching, and call himself/herself a DJ. Does that bother me? Nah. The people that hire them wouldn't be people that would have the money to hire me anyway.

Look at video. Anyone can buy a decent camcorder and a Mac and spit out DVDs. Does that make them competition? I don't think so.

Clients that have the money and know what they want will know where to look for quality. The people that want cheap will go cheap - they're the clients you don't want anyway. Everyone started somewhere. I'm sure most of us have taken on a job or project at some point in our careers that we weren't 100% qualified for.

 

[craig]

I am in the editorial/commercial field. Not a lot of moms entering this area. Have to say mo' power to 'em. Photography is in an exciting (and slightly uncomfortable) period. Kudos to anyone who can turn a dollar in this racket.

Love & Bass

 

[montresor]

Like all journalism, the NYT article creates the sense of a monolithic and significant trend which may not be able to be validated according to its actual statistical density. The Grey Lady, despite its self-proclaimed status as the nation's newspaper of record, is no more reliable than my dog in far too many instances ("What's happening in the world, Roxie?" "Woof!").

A trend which may not be a trend; and, more depressingly, an acronymically-challenged categorization which may not be valid or remotely fair to the individuals, many of whom are more than snapshooter talented, it seeks to pigeonhole, all in the service of a long-form feature that will look great in the reporter's clip file. I say this as a journalist who sees this kind of stuff from the inside all the time.

Anyway, even if the article is spot-on -- babies and weddings? You go, girls. I like to shoot abandoned factories, endangered architecture, and edgy street life. There's room for all of us, no matter how many of us there are.

 

[JIP]

I used to read another forum http://www.prophotogs.com/forum/ ant it was full of what you call MWAC and most of them, at least from their images were great photographers. I agree with the other posters who said that people do a good job capturing what they can relate to and I have seen alot of women photographers who do a wonderful job shooting things like children and weddings. This is not to say that is all they can shoot but I have seen many that do a great job at this.

 

[PhotogMom]

I think I "fall" into this category as well. No matter what, people don't take me as serious, once they find out I'm a mom. Like mom is some sort of bad stigma? I just don't get it. It's not people, as much as it is men and "professional" photographers. My great grandmother whom I was close to was dying before our eyes. She kept "photobooks" what we now call scrapbooks. She had Alzheimer's very bad. However, you bring out one of her "photobooks" and she could tell you details no one could ever remember; but she couldn't remember what she just ate five mins before. I was 9 when she passed away, on her death bed she gave me all of her history, her photobooks, told me to protect them, cherish them, and use them for inspiration. Years before this date, she had started scrapbooking with me, letting me help her, from taking the photos, to pasting them in the decorative page we made together. At 9, I took my grandmother's creative crown and started blossoming on my own after she had passed away. I got into Photography because of her, (She was a professional photographer, after her children had grown up.) I inherited all of her cameras, which I still have today, along with my own collection. I have been in love with photography, and art since as far back as I can remember. Any art really, front performing art, to photography. (I'm a terrible drawer, as long as I'm not asked to draw, I am okay. I do own and play man instruments as well, and have dabbled a great deal in Theater.) I'm an artist, down to my bone.

I started my photography career, on the side, because I could never get the recognition to make a career out of it early on; before my two adorable mop heads came along. I have been in the photography, mostly freelance, and recreational, business for a long long time now. I decided to expand on it, and go to school, this of course after my first son was born. It astonishes me how many people don't view me as a true "artist" and or "photographer" because I am a women, but mostly because I am a mom. I have a substantive client base now. More than most of my professors at school do. I work a few days out of the week and make more than my husband does. Yet my income is our extra, "play" money. I don't do it for the money, I do it for the passion, the drive, the love and the art side. I took the practical route my first go around in college. I have an AAS and BAS in Criminalistics, which is practically useless to me at this point. I graduated top of my class from a very well established State University with honors. This was in 2008, as the economic stability in American plummeted. Prospect employer one after another, turned me down for employment because I did not have a doctorate and or 5 years field relative experience. Luckily my husband has had his very good and stable job since graduating high school. So I took "bank" jobs, and made our way through life, my photography, always on the side. The birth of our first son in 2010, really lit a fire under me to go back to school and dive more into the business aspect and marketing aspect of my creative side, as well as to learn more than I already knew about photography and art. However, one by one, most of the professors that were men and considered "professional" photographers, started giving me the same sad song and dance, how I'm contributing to the problem today, with moms thinking they could just buy their own cameras, and become photographers. None of them knew my background.

I have one of those professors this semester. He thinks he can "break me", and is especially hard on me during critique. (I know so, because I over heard him chuckling with another student, male, single, childless, about how he intends on getting the 'momographers' to give up, because the field is too competitive and saturated for the likes of us". This professor has gotten lucky on a few name large business. His income is not consistent. Hints why he is teaching at the college, and not out making, "the big bucks". Sad really. That I'm viewed as a women who only got into photography to make a few extra bucks? When that's completely and utterly not true. He's a little older than me. He didn't get into the photography business until early 2000, which by then, I had been doing photography for almost a decade.

I say all of that, to say this, no matter why as person chooses to pick up a camera and shoot, where they are at skill level wise, or who and what they chose to shot, it shouldn't matter. You should get your jobs based on your merit, and not your "better than thou attitude." So in my snarkiness and sly uppercut, I chose to rebrand my image and business name as Momographer to show the world, that, hey, moms, are just as good at photography as the "professionals", that some of us have been photographers long before our babies came along; our babies just give us inspiration, and a drive to keep going; even when we get knocked down.

I am a successful, and wildly fabulous photographer, just ask any of my clients. I OWN all of my wet and digital photography studio equipment, both production and post production. I grow every day, and experiment every day with my photography. I learn every day about new things, concepts, and practices. Most careers require continuing education, why is photography any different? Why does being a mom and or women have anything to do with my skills or my business savvy side? Nothing. I didn't just buy a dslr camera one day and decided I was a photographer. This came through years of cultivation, love, dedication, and a desire to better myself. I started in film and worked into digital. I started with bottom of the line p&s and slowly worked into more advanced p&s's as well as slr's.

I do sometimes think that a person should seek out a low end camera and practice, practice, practice and learn the basics of photography such as lighting, composition, etc prior to buying a high end, high powered camera, but hey, it's their money, not mine.

Sorry for the lengthy rant. This is just my experience.

Hi all-

I stumbled across this acronym today in a New York Times article. The article was about the new surge in mommies who are taking their cameras and launching photography businesses with them. I was wondering if anyone else saw the article and what their thoughts are. Have you guys come across MWAC, and are they taken seriously in the photographic world? Looking forward to your responses. Thanks!
​

 

[jake337]

Way to dig up a 5 year old thread!!

And no you don't fit into the category because you didn't just pick up a cheap kit from best buy and start charging the next day. Thats what MWAC or GWAC are! Buy today, selling by tomorrow!

 

[Mike_E]

I think I "fall" into this category as well. No matter what, people don't take me as serious, once they find out I'm a mom. Like mom is some sort of bad stigma? I just don't get it. It's not people, as much as it is men and "professional" photographers. My great grandmother whom I was close to was dying before our eyes. She kept "photobooks" what we now call scrapbooks. She had Alzheimer's very bad. However, you bring out one of her "photobooks" and she could tell you details no one could ever remember; but she couldn't remember what she just ate five mins before. I was 9 when she passed away, on her death bed she gave me all of her history, her photobooks, told me to protect them, cherish them, and use them for inspiration. Years before this date, she had started scrapbooking with me, letting me help her, from taking the photos, to pasting them in the decorative page we made together. At 9, I took my grandmother's creative crown and started blossoming on my own after she had passed away. I got into Photography because of her, (She was a professional photographer, after her children had grown up.) I inherited all of her cameras, which I still have today, along with my own collection. I have been in love with photography, and art since as far back as I can remember. Any art really, front performing art, to photography. (I'm a terrible drawer, as long as I'm not asked to draw, I am okay. I do own and play man instruments as well, and have dabbled a great deal in Theater.) I'm an artist, down to my bone.

I started my photography career, on the side, because I could never get the recognition to make a career out of it early on; before my two adorable mop heads came along. I have been in the photography, mostly freelance, and recreational, business for a long long time now. I decided to expand on it, and go to school, this of course after my first son was born. It astonishes me how many people don't view me as a true "artist" and or "photographer" because I am a women, but mostly because I am a mom. I have a substantive client base now. More than most of my professors at school do. I work a few days out of the week and make more than my husband does. Yet my income is our extra, "play" money. I don't do it for the money, I do it for the passion, the drive, the love and the art side. I took the practical route my first go around in college. I have an AAS and BAS in Criminalistics, which is practically useless to me at this point. I graduated top of my class from a very well established State University with honors. This was in 2008, as the economic stability in American plummeted. Prospect employer one after another, turned me down for employment because I did not have a doctorate and or 5 years field relative experience. Luckily my husband has had his very good and stable job since graduating high school. So I took "bank" jobs, and made our way through life, my photography, always on the side. The birth of our first son in 2010, really lit a fire under me to go back to school and dive more into the business aspect and marketing aspect of my creative side, as well as to learn more than I already knew about photography and art. However, one by one, most of the professors that were men and considered "professional" photographers, started giving me the same sad song and dance, how I'm contributing to the problem today, with moms thinking they could just buy their own cameras, and become photographers. None of them knew my background.

I have one of those professors this semester. He thinks he can "break me", and is especially hard on me during critique. (I know so, because I over heard him chuckling with another student, male, single, childless, about how he intends on getting the 'momographers' to give up, because the field is too competitive and saturated for the likes of us". This professor has gotten lucky on a few name large business. His income is not consistent. Hints why he is teaching at the college, and not out making, "the big bucks". Sad really. That I'm viewed as a women who only got into photography to make a few extra bucks? When that's completely and utterly not true. He's a little older than me. He didn't get into the photography business until early 2000, which by then, I had been doing photography for almost a decade.

I say all of that, to say this, no matter why as person chooses to pick up a camera and shoot, where they are at skill level wise, or who and what they chose to shot, it shouldn't matter. You should get your jobs based on your merit, and not your "better than thou attitude." So in my snarkiness and sly uppercut, I chose to rebrand my image and business name as Momographer to show the world, that, hey, moms, are just as good at photography as the "professionals", that some of us have been photographers long before our babies came along; our babies just give us inspiration, and a drive to keep going; even when we get knocked down.

I am a successful, and wildly fabulous photographer, just ask any of my clients. I OWN all of my wet and digital photography studio equipment, both production and post production. I grow every day, and experiment every day with my photography. I learn every day about new things, concepts, and practices. Most careers require continuing education, why is photography any different? Why does being a mom and or women have anything to do with my skills or my business savvy side? Nothing. I didn't just buy a dslr camera one day and decided I was a photographer. This came through years of cultivation, love, dedication, and a desire to better myself. I started in film and worked into digital. I started with bottom of the line p&s and slowly worked into more advanced p&s's as well as slr's.

I do sometimes think that a person should seek out a low end camera and practice, practice, practice and learn the basics of photography such as lighting, composition, etc prior to buying a high end, high powered camera, but hey, it's their money, not mine.

Sorry for the lengthy rant. This is just my experience.

Hi all-

I stumbled across this acronym today in a New York Times article. The article was about the new surge in mommies who are taking their cameras and launching photography businesses with them. I was wondering if anyone else saw the article and what their thoughts are. Have you guys come across MWAC, and are they taken seriously in the photographic world? Looking forward to your responses. Thanks!
​

So you're a PWIAAM: Photographer Who Is Also A Mom.

Sorry about the jerks in your life but they are and have been an epidemic for a long time for us all.

A sad fact of life is that too many people who can't make it, fake it. They take on the appearance of an artist and sell the shtick because the steak isn't very well done.

 

[Derrel]

It's almost hilarious, post #39...him doubting that the MWAC phenomenon was an ACTUAL trend!!! Hilarious!!! It proved to be a GIGANTIC trend!!! The Rangefinder just this month (that's The Magazine of Professional Photographers) reported on the state of the photography business. Right now, women, many of whom are mothers, are a HUGE part of the business...they outnumber men. Men who identify as full-time photographers have a median age of 50. Women are much,much younger. And have been at it fewer years. Ya' know, it seems it's almost as if, as the economy got worse, and as d-slr's dropped below $1,000, non-working mothers (what a silly term THAT is! but you know what it means) at home decided to turn to photography to make extra income!! JUST like the NEw York Times reported on! AND JUST LIKE the business group reported...80% of new photography business being started in the 2007 period were by women...

 

[DiskoJoe]

I think MWAC sounds a little bit -hot- and if

This whole thread is going downhill FAST.

MWACILF?

lol