MWAC - what we've all been missing

[blackcloudbrew]

Forget schools, forget books, forget all those tips, and time spent with the manual. Just watch these excellent videos and learn to be a professional photog.

http://www.youtube.com/us...ttack#p/a/f/0/-S3NFW2c7hA

[Ron Kruger]

Well, now I think I can finally make it as a professional. I suspect this was a Saturday Night Live kind of skit, but I've actually run into people that think this way. I once was showing 30 X 40 mounted prints, and a woman was asking me about equipment, which is annoying enough in the first place, and then her friend asked me in all seriousness: "Can't you do the same thing with a cell phone?"
It was at this same show that someone admiring my prints said: What do you shoot, a Canon or a Nikon? And this fell out of my mouth without really thinking about it. Those are what people shoot who believe everything they hear in TV commercials. Those who really know about photography shoot Pentax.
Oh, she said.
This is why I'd rather deal with animals than people and they couldn't pay me enough to shoot a wedding.

[Pacerr]

So shoot a coupl'a representative scenes with both high-end gear and cell phone/P&S stuff, Ron. Print both as 4x5 in, 100% crop comparison prints. Display as necessary.

I suppose if you shot the low res stuff with an ol' 1.5 MPS Canikon P&S you could even truthfully say, "And this poor example next to the Pentax print was shot with a "Canikon.", and kill both of those birds . . . uh, questions? . . . with one graphic example, eh?

Oh, an' ya forgot to include babies in with the wedding category.

H²

(Hey, perhaps ya could ya pick up a little extra dough if you included a scrolling  advertisement for your Fish Rental Store as a watermark on your prints?  Or maybe at least get a 5% discount there.  --  H ^(squared)-ski )

[blackcloudbrew]

I posted this because it's both a sad commentary on the state of affairs in professional photography and with some bit of thinking her videos are wonderful satire. Although they are good enough to make you have a twinge of doubt that she actually may be serious in all of this too.

So I was hoping to get a bit of discussion going in this area too. Personally, I would have no qualms about earning some money using my photographic skills. After the past four years of working at really learning a thing or two about it I feel I'm getting closer to that point and hope to begin entering my images in competitions next year and am keeping and eye towards exhibitions down the road. But I feel I have SO much yet to learn about the craft and most importantly the art. This whole MWAC deal is so contrary to all the education and experience I'm after that one just has to laugh/cry. It's so clear to me now that while equipment is important, it's so much more about the person taking the shot than what it's shot with.

My personal example here is that as I usually have 2-3 cameras on a shoot or hike and one of them usually has a battery grip on it. I've gotten comments like - oh that must be a good camera - reason? it's bigger than other cameras, i.e., if you want to look good carry a big camera with a big lens because big is better, right? [sigh] Oh, well, like you Ron, I want no part of any paid wedding gig, that's for professionals in my book.

[spyglass]

Earl says he would like to get a discussion going  (picture me as a young boy in school, arm flung frantically up waving madly in the air).

I think she is intelligent, pretty funny, and playing a wonderful part. She touches on all the empty headed notions surrounding this hobby. I would imagine that she is a capable photographer that, like us, is tired of all the thoughtless ideas by non photographers about taking pictures. What better way to do battle than humour.

When people make ridiculous statements, offer empty headed ideas, make weak generalizations, spout brands, in connection with photography, I just laugh at them. Not just a little laugh. But a good hearty laugh equal in magnitude to the foolishness at hand.

Thanks for sharing this with us Earl,


Spyglass

[blackcloudbrew]

Most welcome, Spy. I'm happy to share a laugh or two with the group. Another whole site devoted to Fauxtography is this one.

http://youarenotaphotographer.com/

I view this about once a week or any time I need a reason to keep learning about better photography.

Earl da Peal

[Pacerr]

. . . while equipment is important, it's so much more about the person taking the shot than what it's shot with. 

And may I add, the incentive for producing the 'shot'.

I have a bit of a personal problem with applying the label "professional" to every endeavor that is supposed to involve craftsmanship or 'make money' from one's skill, knowledge or 'snake-oil' promotion.

My schoolin' lead me to believe the definition of a professional included large doses of high standards for defined, ethical conduct, oversight by peer review and, more importantly, of altruistic behavior in the public interest. Something well beyond mere commercial aspirations. Today we have "professional" athletes (TV wrestlers? really?), entertainers, plumbers, used car salesmen . . .  just about everyone that can print up a handful of business cards calls themselves a "professional" today.  (I avoid "professional" politician as an oxymoron.)

At one time I was fairly skilled at making photographs with film and slides. By that, I mean capable of making well exposed, crispy images that satisfied a forensic-like need to accurately portray the information shown with assurance that the image was a true representation of the subject. I didn't consider myself a photographer, but rather a "reporter" that used photographic skills as a tool, nor as a commercial photographer simply because photography contributed in some small fashion to a paycheck.

To me the term photographer has more to do with the esthetic intent of the resulting image, than the tools involved or remuneration received. The difference between a skilled draftsman and an artist. The one photography-related endeavor that I consider "professional" rather than simply commercial (by my definitions) is the ethical photo-journalist who accurately records the moment at hand without personal comment or bias and with a self-aware intent to do so. That's not to say there aren't some exceptionally skillful commercial photographers and artists that happen to use photography.

I consider my self a draftsman that happens to enjoy using photographic equipment and any esthetic quality that results is purely serendipitous luck.

As for the videos, I immediately took those as satire, or SNL humor at best and enjoyed 'em as such. (Yeah, OK, so I picked up some neat tips there, too.     )

H²

[Ron Kruger]

I've realized that to really be good at this, I need at least 50 more lenses and a dozen or so bodies, plus dozens of gadgets and widgets and flashes and filters and tripods and studio lights and....then watch out.
I'll give you mathamatical formulas, statistics and theories that will blow your mind.

[Pacerr]

Naw, you need to go with the ol' adage, "Beware the man that only owns one gun, he probably knows how to use it!". 

H²

[blackcloudbrew]

This boils down to the basic definition of the word professional, which as I understand it, simply means that one is paid for what they do. Unfortunately, that just really doesn't get it done as a solid definition because simply getting paid isn't enough. Paccer get's at it really in his last two posts above. In my case, I have a degree in Meteorology, have worked as a professional environmental consultant for 35 years, and I'm also a professional working as a freelance consultant for the past 10 years. While I have actually been paid for my photography, I am an amateur because I am neither trying to make it my living nor do I have the training and experience commensurate with that of one in that profession. In 2008, when I got back into photography as a hobby by virtue of buying my first DSLR, I was quite astonished about all the blabber about camera grades: professional, prosumer, advanced, beginning blah blah blah. In photography (and I don't believe that photography has any corner on that market either) it's mostly all marketing created differences trying to sell and differentiate products. I get fairly sick of reading about when oh when Pentax will bring out a full frame camera so it can have a professional camera, what crap! If Ron Kruger (a professional photographer even though we know he rents all those animals...) can sell images taken with a P&S camera dubbed the worst camera of 2009 doesn't that make the Pentax Optio W80 a professional camera? Nope, because it's not super expensive and no professional would ever use it. What a ridiculous viewpoint.

Oh dear, I feel a rant coming on ... {rant on}

This MWAC trend which is so well spoofed by this gal (er...woman, got to be P/C now) is just another wave of what likely has happened over and over again in art. I'm sure that in the 1800's as cameras began to be used more and more, artists (like in paint etc.) felt threatened because for centuries they were the ones capturing and presenting reality. I've honestly thought that's why impressionism and its many successors to what we now call modern art happened. Photography took over realism so artists had to move to something else. Even in that same time frame, you had photographers with all the chemicals and gear and then it was a guy like George Eastman who with the Brownie had a slogan something like - you take the pictures and we'll do the rest. The Brownie was a direct threat to those photographers for sure. Things changed and continue to change. I think my grandfather used to say - the cream rises to the top. I think that's always true regardless of whatever you call yourself. {end rant}
  

[Pacerr]

Solely in the interest of gentle discourse:

Recognizing my own somewhat archaic definition of professional I ran the word through a few dictionaries. The current vernacular leans heavily toward the commercial/monetary aspects of the circumstances but Wikipedia still offers some lip service to ethics. Some exerts:

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialized set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors, environmental scientists, forensic scientists, educators, and many more. The term is also used in sports to differentiate amateur players from those who are paid — hence "professional golfer".  Less technically, it may also refer to a person having impressive competence in a particular activity.[5]

. . . many professional services . . . are subject to strict codes of conduct enshrining rigorous ethical and moral obligations.  ** Now, about that PS-ed moon.   **

The main criteria for professional include the following:

    Expert and specialized knowledge in field which one is practicing professionally.[6]
    Excellent manual/practical and literary (?) skills in relation to profession.[7]
    High quality work in (examples): creations, products, services, , , ,  photography or other work endeavors.
    A high standard of professional ethics, behavior . . . ** Now here's where it gets tough! **    The professional owes a higher duty to a client, often a privilege of confidentiality, as well as a duty not to abandon the client just because he or she may not be able to pay or remunerate the professional. Often the professional is required to put the interest of the client ahead of his own interests.
   Appropriate treatment of relationships with colleagues. Consideration should be shown to elderly, junior or inexperienced colleagues, as well as those with special needs. ** Does this mean we gotta be nice(r) to Ron?    **

    A professional is an expert who is a master in a specific field. A historical shift is occurring with the rise of Pro-Ams, a new category of people that are pursuing amateur activities to professional standards.

** So are we gonna see a Pro-Am Pentax body to capture that market?   **

H²

I suppose "professional" has fallen to the same malaise that allows one to "decimate" something with no reference to whacking only 1/10th of the whole, eh?  

[blackcloudbrew]

Pacerr - very well said.