Photographer to Photographer interaction

LuckySo-n-So

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I have been taking lots of photos at LSU football games recently. I wander around field level and try to get decent shots of the action from a close perspective.

I often happen across other amateur photographers and, obviously, professionals with $50,000 worth of equipment slung around their necks.

I'm usually like to ask a question or two about their equipment, settings, technique, etc. as I am eager to learn from others.

I am usually met with cold, terse, one or two word responses. It is important to note that I don't approach photogrophers who are actively shooting. If I see they are taking a break and I happen to be nearby, only then do I approach them.

I saw a photographer with a HUGE lens on her Nikon camera and asked her if it was the 400mm or 600mm and she looked at it as if it were a huge piece of crap and said that it was "only" a 300mm, and muttered something about not being rich and having ten grand.

I basically find these people to be huge d-bags, for the most part (pro and amateur alike), with an occasional friendly person thrown in.

I don't know, I'm usually excited to share what I know and talk about somewhat advanced topics with people who know about photography.

What's the deal???? I know I don't smell, I'm just a little dorky looking, but aren't most photographers (because if not, we'd be in FRONT of the camera)--LOL.
 
Who knows... I've shot a couple of car races at a big track, non-commercially with photo passes. I was in there with the guys trying to make money so I tried to stay out of the way, but they were very inviting and accommodating. Walking around race cars wearing earplugs doesn't make for a conversational atmosphere though.
 
I tend to not be friends with other photographers. I know I'm generalizing, but those of us who take it very seriously, as a way of life, tend to be solitary, introspective, and maybe a little arrogant (hey, if you don't believe you should be paid to do what you love, neither will your clients). This may make for interesting characters, but on the average, we're not sociable people.

Mix that kind of personality with some brutal competition for getting the selling shot, the high pressure and tension of covering a fast-paced game (you said football, not baseball, right? :lmao:), some underlying equipment envy here and there, and very tight deadlines, and I'd be surprised if you could find anything more than the occasional friendly face.

You want to see some jackasses at work (who may all be really cool people on their time off)? Hang out in the press pit at a big concert, on a really hot summer night, and be the new guy in the bunch.

Oh, it can be a lonely world sometimes :grumpy::mrgreen:
 
tend to be solitary, introspective,

That describes me to a tee, but I try to be friendly. :dunno:

Me, too, though on the friendly part I may need more work, lol. When I was shooting for a small paper in Miami, I realized that I needed to come out of my shell, because I kept getting sent to places where I knew I was somewhat out of my element. And that was fine, I welcomed the challenge and it helped me a lot - as a photographer and, actually, as a human being. I think photography has opened a lot of doors in my life, in many ways.

But not everyone sees it that way. Those guys on the field are there to do a job, and they are expected to come back with a series of salable shots. They tend to see non-pros the same way many wedding photographers see relatives with Canon Rebels at the ceremony: people that are just going to get in the way.

I don't know sports shooters all too well, never really got into it much, but if you want to get in with them, maybe talk about the game and not about shop. Speaking for myself, if someone keeps asking me tech questions or just wants to talk gear, I'm bored within minutes.
 
I used to shoot college sports when I was in college. Sometimes for the paper sometime for athletes family. I would run into "jerks" all the time. One football game a guy even came up to me and said your in my spot. Trying to get me to move. I had official credentials and flashed them to him and said get lost. About the only time I was ever rude to someone. During half time I found out he was from the visiting teams local paper. It just amazed me that he was a visiting photographer and was trying to bully his way around. I thought that was pretty arrogant. I liked to follow the action anyway. So, I just didn't stay in one spot too long. I moved from end to end while they played (football). I carried 2 cameras, 1 with a 300mm f/2.8 and a second camera with a 80-200mm f/2.8.

Now having said that. I have met some pretty good people though. Not all are jerks. But there are quite a few. But you have to remember that people are there to get paid (most anyway). So, they may not want to chit chat.
 
Sorry about your bad experience...
Some folks tend to have their nose UP HIGH thus you end up stock with impressions that you have. I can mostly speak for my self, I enjoy interacting with other photographers. I don't have to agree to what they are saying but if it gives me an opportunity to learn something new, IT IS WORTH IT.
 
It could also be that the size of the smile is proportional to the number of shots they are getting.

If you are at field level and the team is running up the gut all night the pickings can be slim- or so I'm told. ;)
 
Mostly it's just annoying having people come up to you while you're working and asking questions or making comments. I absolutely cant stand it when a person with a D40 walks up to me while I'm shooting and says something like "That's a big camera you got there. Whatcha shooting?"

To the person asking it may not seem like much, but the photographer who is asked that same question10 times every time they are in public it gets old quick.

I normally smile, give a fake chuckle and answer what they ask, but you can't expect that from everyone.

Also, if you walk up and ask what their settings are you're never going to get respect from them. That's just the way it is. While photography does have a limited number of settings to use(albeit a pretty wide range still), that's much like asking a master chef what his secret recipe is. If you're not good enough to figure it out on your own, the chef isn't going to tell you.

Sorry to be so blunt about it.
 
At the one professional shoot that I did (wedding), I was asked a few questions by some other "friend photographers" (family etc. who had cameras) who were mostly asking about gear and I edjumakated them about IS lenses. They didn't ask me anything DURING the actual shoot, just before. I enjoyed it. Kinda like astronomers talking about telescope specs.

In retrospect, though, I think I probably came off as a little aloof and disinterested, but that was unintentional and due to me being frantic because the wedding was already an hour behind schedule in folks getting ready.
 
Yeah, I'm sure hearing the same old crap again and again gets old. Everyone thinks that being a pro with a huge camera must be so much fun, but the pro is really just trying to concentrate on their job, and most take it more seriously than noobs expect. Its the same thing in Rock and Roll, Everyone thinks that working at concert must be a big party all the time. I can remember the exact wording, but the Lighting designer from STYX about a year ago was wearing a shirt that read something to the effect of "I know this looks like fun, but this is my job, so leave me alone."

Now its a different story, when you strike up an intelligent conversation with another photographer, when they are not right in the middle of something. Example; Saw a guy shooting a band in a bar where there was basically no lighting. When he stopped to have a drink, I asked, "So do you have to shoot at about 3200 in here" He answered "pretty much, but this 2.8 lens helps a bit, I would use my 50mm 1.4 but this room is too small."

So I was not interrupting him, asked a a question that showed I knew at least something about photography, and his answer was just technical enough to both start a conversation with a well versed photographer, or scare off a person who doesn't know what they are talking about. I told him that I had good results with my sigma 30mm 1.4 being just wide enough for the space, and he said that he would look into that lens.

So really I think it just depends on the person and situation. I like to talk about more advanced or new approaches to photography,lighting, post processing, shooting expired film, artistic process, whatever, as long as it takes more than two brain cells to think about, but its just agonizingly boring if its the same old crap, like "what aperture are you using"..."how much did that camera cost?"..."oh, is that only 8 megapixels? my P&S has 12."
 
I've met a few photographers that are decent guys and amazing photogs.
I follow all of them on my twitter as a result.

Though, out of all Devious Monkey and Rasidel are the only guys who have always been extremely nice and helpful.. no matter what the conversation is about.
I know their names do not mean much to most (google can solve that) but these two are amazing people.
 
Ah! Im pretty friendly despite having a sidearm on is some places. But yeah I have got the snub from some at some places, usually I just say hi and, have got the Im not aknowleding anyone attitude at that point I flip them the bird.
 

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