Rant coming....

beckylynne

TPF Noob!
Joined
Oct 24, 2015
Messages
94
Reaction score
39
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
It seems to be a general consensus amongst "real" photographers that people who take pictures for money (more often than not, wedding photographers) somehow aren't real photographers and lack the talent of someone who takes pictures of random things for fun and knows their gear really well. Since when did the hobby or the art come before the business? Photography was a business first..and became a hobby and an art form after. Taking photos for money does not somehow make you a cop out.

If you hold a camera...and you take pictures because you love it, or because it's your business, then good or bad...you are a damn photographer.

As a wedding photographer (which is a title that I use proudly) I'm constantly being challenged to improve my craft. I need to be prepared for a million different scenarios, weather conditions, lighting conditions, I need to be fast with no second guessing. I need to be a people person and deal effectively and professionally with many different people at the same time from bride, groom, wedding party, and family to vendors. I need to be an entrepreneur. You don't have a ton of time to set up gear...lights...tripods...and a bride and groom to take tons of the epic wedding shots you would see on the cover of a magazine. Those shoots are 99% of the time stylized and not real weddings.

Weddings also range in budget from $1000-$100,000...so yeah someones images of a wedding shot in a church basement with streamers hanging from a basketball net may not be as good as a photographer who had the opportunity to shoot a wedding at the Ritz...but they are no less a photographer. Everyone deserves photos on their wedding regardless of budget.

If you feel so strongly that we don't know what we are doing and are total crap than GREAT! Use that to fuel your craft. You fortunately for us are not our target market. Take all that pent up rage and go take a killer photo of a mailbox and post it on Flickr.

*end rant*
 
It seems to be a general consensus amongst "real" photographers that people who take pictures for money (more often than not, wedding photographers) somehow aren't real photographers and lack the talent of someone who takes pictures of random things for fun and knows their gear really well.
Huh???? Whazzat???? I've never heard anyone say anything remotely like that, and I would hope that anyone who thinks they have even the smallest clue about photography knows that wedding photography as craft, is one which requires great skill. Granted there's the host of "facebook pros" who don't know an aperture from their ***hole, but, as far as the real pros go, the ones I know, know their gear inside out and backwards, and have a lot of skill and experience.
 
Bad morning? Just fire back at them. If they shoot their mailbox and get it wrong, they can take another shot (even on another day) as a wedding photographer, you have to get "the kiss" right the first time with no do-overs. If they don't get that, then know this, "you can't fix stupid".

Note: this is but one reason why I have no desire to shoot weddings.
 
It seems to be a general consensus amongst "real" photographers that people who take pictures for money (more often than not, wedding photographers) somehow aren't real photographers and lack the talent of someone who takes pictures of random things for fun and knows their gear really well.
Huh???? Whazzat???? I've never heard anyone say anything remotely like that, and I would hope that anyone who thinks they have even the smallest clue about photography knows that wedding photography as craft, is one which requires great skill. Granted there's the host of "facebook pros" who don't know an aperture from their ***hole, but, as far as the real pros go, the ones I know, know their gear inside out and backwards, and have a lot of skill and experience.
I agree that there are a ton of rookie weddding photographers out there..but frankly who cares? Instead of people tearing them apart and telling them they have no business to shoot or aren't good enough to charge...let them be. They are shooting the cheap weddings anyways. They are shooting for the people who can't afford anything more than an armature with a so so camera. More often then not I see these criticisms coming from someone who has never in their life shot a wedding anyways.
 
Bad morning? Just fire back at them. If they shoot their mailbox and get it wrong, they can take another shot (even on another day) as a wedding photographer, you have to get "the kiss" right the first time with no do-overs. If they don't get that, then know this, "you can't fix stupid".

Note: this is but one reason why I have no desire to shoot weddings.
Meh lol. I've been on this site for 2 days and the novelty is rapidly wearing off.
 
I agree that there are a ton of rookie weddding photographers out there..but frankly who cares? Instead of people tearing them apart and telling them they have no business to shoot or aren't good enough to charge...let them be. They are shooting the cheap weddings anyways. They are shooting for the people who can't afford anything more than an armature with a so so camera. More often then not I see these criticisms coming from someone who has never in their life shot a wedding anyways.
We should all care. I'm not referring to the rookie who's just starting out and has done his/her homework, has some skills, necessary gear, etc, but to the HUGE crowd of "facebook fauxtographers" who've been told by someone that they take "great snaps", so immediately start booking paid shoots without the necessary licenses, insurance, skills or knowledge. I care about those people a great deal because their incompetence and poor practices give all of us a bad name.
 
To be fair I've seen more wedding photographers look down on the normal Joe soap than the other way around. This is not aimed at you or at wedding photographers in general,(we are all just people and some people are nice, others are not) but it is the way I see it, the small few times that I have seen it
 
I agree that there are a ton of rookie weddding photographers out there..but frankly who cares? Instead of people tearing them apart and telling them they have no business to shoot or aren't good enough to charge...let them be. They are shooting the cheap weddings anyways. They are shooting for the people who can't afford anything more than an armature with a so so camera. More often then not I see these criticisms coming from someone who has never in their life shot a wedding anyways.
We should all care. I'm not referring to the rookie who's just starting out and has done his/her homework, has some skills, necessary gear, etc, but to the HUGE crowd of "facebook fauxtographers" who've been told by someone that they take "great snaps", so immediately start booking paid shoots without the necessary licenses, insurance, skills or knowledge. I care about those people a great deal because their incompetence and poor practices give all of us a bad name.
I hear what you are saying. I've lost business to them because they "know a friend" who will shoot my wedding for $500 bucks. To those people though I say good riddance. Red flag nightmare clients for sure. Sometimes I creep back to see their TERRIBLE photos and they are raving about them. Yes there are photographers who don't know their @$$ from an aperture. But there are also clients who don't know a good photo from crap. There is room in the world for all of us :)
 
To be fair I've seen more wedding photographers look down on the normal Joe soap than the other way around. This is not aimed at you or at wedding photographers in general,(we are all just people and some people are nice, others are not) but it is the way I see it, the small few times that I have seen it
Fair enough :)
 
This place ins't a good barometer for how "photographers" think about things. Out of the thousands of members there are only a hand full of working professionals. Most are hobbyists and even more are keyboard jockys parroting the same crap over and over. The rest are gear head who only come here to debate their brand of choice.
 
This place ins't a good barometer for how "photographers" think about things. Out of the thousands of members there are only a hand full of working professionals. Most are hobbyists and even more are keyboard jockys parroting the same crap over and over. The rest are gear head who only come here to debate their brand of choice.
Good to know....I was rapidly losing faith.
 
To be fair I've seen more wedding photographers look down on the normal Joe soap than the other way around. This is not aimed at you or at wedding photographers in general,(we are all just people and some people are nice, others are not) but it is the way I see it, the small few times that I have seen it
Fair enough :)

There is one thing that I think holds true for the most part when it comes to wedding photos. A good wedding photographer will give images to the couple that they love and want to show others, or even look at themselves more often, and through word of mouth (at least in a moderate size town like where i live) they will get recommended by others.

A landscape (put in wildlife, macro, aeroplane show) photographer that gets asked and accepts to do a wedding because he/she has a 1dx may not, so your skill always shows through
 
This is a funny but accurate video, very tongue in cheek. Most folks around here don't get past level 3.

 
This place ins't a good barometer for how "photographers" think about things. Out of the thousands of members there are only a hand full of working professionals. Most are hobbyists and even more are keyboard jockys parroting the same crap over and over. The rest are gear head who only come here to debate their brand of choice.

Which are you :bouncingsmileys:
 
This place ins't a good barometer for how "photographers" think about things. Out of the thousands of members there are only a hand full of working professionals. Most are hobbyists and even more are keyboard jockys parroting the same crap over and over. The rest are gear head who only come here to debate their brand of choice.

Which are you :bouncingsmileys:

I am here for the ladies.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top