Tuesday, March 20, 2012

It's spring and the natives are restless

Well, here we go again.

It's springtime and the natives are getting restless once again. Haven't you, as a photographer, had enough of this already? You know what I mean. Another year, another "money making opportunity" from your favorite Rockstar Photographers.

And really, the ones who are making the real money are the ones selling you mostly useless info about how to be a "pro" in photography. Sage advice like, "Spray and Pray", "Shoot in (P) mode, because old photographers that shoot in Manual mode are clueless.", and "Worry less about perfecting exposure and worry more about making friends."

I'm not sure how that last one works. If you screw up a job, whether it is a wedding, portrait, or whatever because you can not nail your exposure, you will not make friends. Not with the Bride, or her mother, certainly not with an art director or anyone that would actually think about hiring you again, or referring you for more work. It just won't happen.

It's incredibly frustrating to me the amount of crap that is being peddled out there to photographers and how many of you still buy into it. Whenever something new, like this, pops up, you need to step back, look at it from all angles, turn on your bullshit meter and decide what it legit and what is not. As a newbie photographer, David Jay's list might make a lot of sense. He makes it sound soooooooo easy, right? It's only 10 steps to achieving photographic Nirvana. 10 simple steps to making friends and living a life of leisure as a photographer.

Step back from the info he is spouting here and see what is really going on. He is trying to sell you on his products. Now, to be totally honest, I see nothing wrong with selling products (especially if they are good-not sure if his are), but to wrap up a product pitch in a quick and easy 10 step system that boils down photography to getting an expensive dumbed down point and shoot and shooting the hell out it to hope and capture one decisive moment is just bad advice. I'm hearing Cartier-Bresson rolling over in his grave as I write this.

Haven't you all had enough yet?

PD