Jack of all trades style

[sashbar]

Fun fact: The whole saying is "Jack of all trades, master of none, though often is better than master of one."

Not as insulting if you say the whole things. I am proud to be able to do all types of photography well.

Wow, I haven't heard the whole saying in a long time. Thanks for that.

BTW the phrase initially came (probably late XVI century) from the pigeon Latin "Johannes factotum", which means John-do-it-all. Later it transformed into "Jack of all trades" and was used in a positive way. The ironic "master of none" was added later and all this phrase became dismissive. "Though often is better than master of one" was added centuries later. Actually there were several similar attempts, like "certainly better than master of one". But all these additions did not stick, because the phrase became too long and boring.

 

[sashbar]

I just checked and it appears this phrase has an equivalent in many many languages. I like Spanish "An ocean of knowledge is inch deep" and Lithuanian "One can not s**t under every bush".

 

[Derrel]

"Listicals" from clickbait authors are not serious think pieces...and the web is increasingly filled with the crap these site authors spew almost daily...pieces designed to get people to CLICK! Quick, easy, one-hour, flimsy listicals...

 

[imagemaker46]

I grew up shooting all kinds of things that I thought were interesting, didn't really matter what it was at the time, but it was all just practice, playing with light, really very general stuff. I shot a lot of sports, mostly football, and still consider shooting sports as the toughest field to be really good at. I've done a lot as a photojournalist, which by some standards is the same as a "jack of all trades" only the good ones, at good at most and great at others. Being a good photographer is understanding how light works, how content in an image makes the image. I've been helping out a guy for a few weeks now, he likes sports, so he shoots football as he knows that's where he'll find me, but he hasn't got a clue about light. I explained a few things to him and what he should look for, I'm pretty sure it's helped.

Two weeks ago I hired a very good glamour photographer, that has also been shooting football for 15 years to cover a game for me. He gave me a disk with 1100 images, once I weeded out all the garbage, I was left with 96 images. I was shocked. Unfortunately I have hired him(before I got the disk) to cover another game next week, but will be having a chat about what I want. I'm guessing it was just a bad night for him, it happens.

There is nothing wrong with shooting a bit of everything, figuring out what you enjoy the most is key and then go in that direction. If it's a matter of wanting to become a full time professional, you have to look into the areas that are more stable for income, and that's not always going to be what you enjoy doing. I have a new grandson, been shooting all kinds of images, better than the majority of baby photographers out there, a friend suggested I try selling that side as well as the sports. The thing about that was it was done without a studio, in the house, candid pictures and they were done for me. It wasn't any different from shooting sports, it still came down to the light and content. The basic requirement for a decent image.

I just take pictures

 

[Forkie]

As a hobby, I think it's perfectly fine to photograph whatever and upload wherever, but if you want to start a photography business, you'll be much better off and will find more clients if you stick to a particular genre.

If you have photos of everything in your portfolio, people won't know what to hire you for, but if you have mastered a particular genre, say portraits or products, then people will know that if they need a product photographer or want a portrait done, they know to look for you.

If a wedding photographer fills their portfolio with loads of landscapes and macros and pet photos, people won;t know that he/she is a wedding photographer.

EDIT: Just to illustrate the bit about style. There is a photographer I really like who only shoots portraits and has developed his lighting and editing style to the point where I can recognise his photos from a mile away, without seeing his name.

Sean Archer 500px

The style refers to the look and feel of his portraits. You can tell they've all been shot by the same photographer - that would not be possible if his collection was also full of landscapes and street shots because the style would not carry over to those genres.