The Photographer Today

benjikan · Jun 22, 2007

What I have come to realize is that the photographer must be adept in a much wider range of disciplines than was acceptable only a few years ago. He/She must be a photographer an intermediate art director, retouch artist and visionary. The importance of being a good communicator is also a vital part of the profession. Even if one has an agent the importance of this diversification can't be understated.

What are your impressions about where the photographer is today?

Ben

bakuretsu · Jun 22, 2007

Not to mention knowing things about the Internet, as well. I am a web developer by day and I get asked a lot of questions on a fairly regular basis concerning best practices for my friends' photography websites.

So, I wrote an article about it. Web Rules for Photographers.

jstuedle · Jun 23, 2007

Benjamin, Do you own or are you on a fashion list? If so, I have admired your work several times. Great stuff! And I agree that todays digital photographer has many tasks to master and juggle. This is opposite of the opinion of most of the viewing public. They seem to think "Hey, I got a digital camera and a computer, I can do that!" I think that it helps to have had a foundation in wet photography with more than a few hours getting you fingers wet and stained, in addition to the disciplines you mentioned. It doesn't hurt to be well versed in computer skills before moving to digital either.

BTW, glad to see you here. I've been away for a while with a long illness and recently returned. I look forward to seeing more of your talent.

Hertz van Rental · Jun 24, 2007

Working in London in the 80's I found photographers (and their assistants) had an unbelievably wide range of skills. Everything from picking locks to building sets. If you had to fix something or make something and you were on a tight deadline you couldn't wait to get someone in. And this was all quite apart from dealing with clients, Ad agencies, accountants, labs...
I think good photographers have always been multi-skilled through necessity - it's only the type of skills that have changed.

fmw · Jun 24, 2007

Hertz van Rental said:
Working in London in the 80's I found photographers (and their assistants) had an unbelievably wide range of skills. Everything from picking locks to building sets. If you had to fix something or make something and you were on a tight deadline you couldn't wait to get someone in. And this was all quite apart from dealing with clients, Ad agencies, accountants, labs...
I think good photographers have always been multi-skilled through necessity - it's only the type of skills that have changed.

Absolutely. Technology changes the process, not the photography.