Compromising Your Integrity

[Yemme]

Who here has done it….

There are many here who have an idea of the direction they want to go in as far as photography. Have you ever had give up your style of photography just to get ahead? To be accepted as this type of photographer just to get your foot in the door.

Who has played the game and won?

Who has played the game and lost?

Who won’t even play?

 

[Josh66]

I don't play.

I've never had to compromise my integrity in photography. There's no reason for me to.
There is no "higher authority" that I have to get the approval of.


At my job, I have had to make compromises occasionally though.
Nothing bad, nothing I could go to jail for or anything like that.
Mostly just paperwork type stuff. Not filling out paperwork that is supposed to be filled out. Or not taking an issue to engineering, because I KNOW what the fix will be and it's just faster to go ahead and do it. I guess I could get into some trouble for that, but I don't do it often (only when time is very short), and I only do that for minor problems where I know it's a simple fix.

 

[Phranquey]

I chose not to play. I enjoy my photography for what it is, my hobby. I photograph what I want, when I want.

If I had gone into it as a business, and had to do it for a living, I probably wouldn't like it for long.....didn't want to take that chance.

 

[Yemme]

It just seems like there are so many photographers that some might be willing to play the game. I know for commercial situations one might sell out just to get the job... or they just need the job. I'm not sure if we'll get any to come forth to say they produced work they were not interested in for a check. We'll see.

 

[Josh66]

I'm not sure if we'll get any to come forth to say they produced work they were not interested in for a check. We'll see.

I probably would. I'm not sure if there really would be any sort of photography that I had absolutely no interest in though.
I do think that doing the same thing day after day would get boring though, and after a while, it would only be for the check. (Pretty much like my job - it used to be fun, now it's just a job.)

This is not my chosen profession though, so it's not really an option.

 

[Yemme]

Honey (a.k.a. Mr. 30K j/k).... be happy you have a job...


I'm looking for those photographers that have a vision and when they expressed their vision got shot down cold. Even though there work reflects that vision... the company wanted them to walk in the opposite direction.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

You seem to be confusing two things. Style and vision are not the same thing. They may be tightly interconnected but they are different.

When I worked in commercial photography, people called me because they liked my style so I never had to compromise that.

But, when you work in commercial, you are always somewhat compromising your vision because you do not work alone. You will, at the very least, work with an editor. Sometimes, you will also work with a director. So you could end up with three different visions.

Unless you are at the very top of the profession, nobody will give $2,-5, or 10,000 to go and shoot as you see fit.

 

[JerryPH]

Who here has done it….

Me.

There are many here who have an idea of the direction they want to go in as far as photography. Have you ever had give up your style of photography just to get ahead?

Yes, just yesterday.

To be accepted as this type of photographer just to get your foot in the door.
Who has played the game and won?

I'd like to believe it was me.

The story:
There are a good amount of you here that know that I am quite passionate about my photography and that I am working off my butt to develop my own style to become not the equal but superior of many good established wedding photographers. Not so I can open shop, but becuase I so enjoy it. I have a passion for it.

I've been mentoring with an incredible wedding photographer the past several months and yesterday at a wedding, as we were just sitting down to eat he asks me if I would be ready to go do a wedding out on my own. I said that I could not do as well as him, but that I could, and in fact have started to work on developing my own style.

He said.. ."but could you imitate, copy *my* style?"... I was honest... I said that I could, but that I never did out of respect for him and the desire to be me and unique to myself and my own style.

Well, long story short, he wants me to have my style, but wants me to be able to master imitating his style (which is incredible), becuase he wants to offer me a full-time 2nd shooter position.

I've accepted, but, on the condition that we sit down and form more of a partnership than a boss employee relationship and that we talk it all out and determine the direction we want to go. We use his recepie, which I feel screams success, but add a touch of "Jerry" that will increase business and value to his clients.

Time will tell if it comes to fruition, but it looks as if I may be turning pro... something that I did not have on my mind, well certainly not at this point... lol

It was my passion and understanding of photography that got my foot into the door, it was my skills that invited my mentor to elevate me from "voice operated light" stand to 2nd shooter, and we'll see how it goes from there.

One thing is sure, no matter what happens, this man and I will remain friends for many, many years no matter what the outcome.

 

[Yemme]

You seem to be confusing two things. Style and vision are not the same thing. They may be tightly interconnected but they are different.

When I worked in commercial photography, people called me because they liked my style so I never had to compromise that.

But, when you work in commercial, you are always somewhat compromising your vision because you do not work alone. You will, at the very least, work with an editor. Sometimes, you will also work with a director. So you could end up with three different visions.

Unless you are at the very top of the profession, nobody will give $2,-5, or 10,000 to go and shoot as you see fit.

I'm still learning about photography. My question is when someone hires you for a job they like what they saw. Now your book represents you... the artist. If they were not looking for your vision, why would they hire you? Why not hire someone with what they're looking for?

Do they hire you because they just know that you have the technical skills? But then request that you take a different direction from what you do as the artist. What's that about.... It's just confusing.

 

[Yemme]

Go Jerry... I hope thing work out for the best.

 

[usayit]

Wow Jerry... sounds like a wonderful opportunity. A big good luck!

 

[tnvol]

That's awesone Jerry!

 

[manaheim]

Congrats, Jerry, that's really exciting.

The pro work I do is all about compromises. It's for a pretty specific end product for people who care almost nothing about the quality or integrity of the photographic elements of it... other than that it has to look nice and please THEIR customer.

I've even had cases where the end customer (probably looking at the pictures on a non-color-corrected monitor) felt the colors of my pictures were all wrong... the way they wanted it, the building was a dark brown... in reality the building was a red... almost pink. In the end I wound up having to adjust it.

What I try to do is learn from experiences on what folks will ask me to do and whether or not I want to do them. If it's something I summarily don't want to do, I spell it out on my "rate card"... if it's something that I would rather not do, I simply make it an expensive service... so pretty much designing into the process the cost I associate with making those kinds of compromises.

IMO, it's very much the struggle between "art" and "business". If you draw a hard line somewhere, you are cutting off your revenue at exactly that line... and in some cases in a fuzzy area near that line (people may think you inflexible and just not ask, or they may assume based on your being unwilling to do X, that you will also be unwilling to do Y.)

I suppose the further question is "Is this a mistake?" and the answer to that depends entirely on your comfort with your results. If you're starving to death because of your principles, that may be an issue.

 

[SrBiscuit]

luckily, photography for me is just a fun hobby.
as one who works in the creative field, however, i do find that i have to bend to the client sometimes. i don't consider what i have to do "compromising my integrity" though. the job is to make the client happy, and that;s what i strive to do. am i annoyed sometimes that my designs are poopoo'd for something cookie cutter and common?....sure. but do i care if the client is happy?....of course.
perhaps im not understanding the question at hand?

jerry...that sounds awesome! good luck...just from reading your posts on here, i'm sure you will succeed in what YOU want to accomplish (and im sure, making others happy along the way) :thumbup:

 

[coreduo]

I'm a mere beginner. It would be hard for someone who is considered amateur or professional vis-a-vis beginner to compromise his/her integrity. 'Experience makes wise!' as the wisest man says. Valid argument?