rant about photographers...

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Sparkles33

Sparkles33

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I'm an amature photographer. It's something I enjoy. It's something I want to do. It's something I want to know more about bit it's recrational for me. I'll probably never be a professional. There's plenty pros on this forum who all do a good job, blah blah blah. All valid points, no rants so far. :lol:

My rant is those people who buy a camera, buy a backdrop and some lights then suddenly they're pro toggers :thumbsdown: I say this because of a woman that I encountered. She bought a DSLR and a backdrop and some lights. The next thing you know she's doing weddings and advertising herself as a pro specialising in portraits and wedding photography. She joined a photography forum and bitched that they thought she was a troll! The pictures are hideous! Out of focus, bad contrast and hue, pictures of nothing, 1/4 of a face out of focus and the list goes on. It really annoys me thinking that there's people doing that. Undercutting real toggers and giving bad quality images.

I understand if someone wants to have a friend who is "ok" at photography, take pictures for them. But that (above) I don't understand and aparently the people she does these images for "love" them! I'm just shocked.

Sorry guys, been angering me for a while.

I accept if the customer is happy, that's what matters, but honestly, her "best" images that I've seen, if they were pics I'd paid for, I'd cry!
 
surely if someone is going to use a tog for weddings/portraits etc they would want to see their previous work to ensure that the style of the photographer matches up with what the person has in mind.

If not then its the clients fault for picking a bad photographer, but thats just my opinion.
 
yep. I agree with you.

First what, KayJay?

Honestly it scares me that someone can just go into a camera shop, buy some gear then suddenly, overnight, "be a pro" - imagine if doctors were like that?! Or teachers, or any other white/blue collar profession?
 
These kind of things happen all the time, particularly in creative industries. I gave up freelancing as a web developer because 'pros' would come in and undercut. It was hopeless. So I now work for one of the best creative agencies in the UK and love it. Because of that I'm conscious of how I'll be perceived by professional photographers who wrongly see me as a threat in their line of work. I don't tout myself off as being a professional and probably explains why I'm not in photography to make money but see it more of an adventure and journey.
 
MagicMynx,

I am of the camp that thinks you can pretty much do anything you set your mind to. Nothing is too much of an ambition, and you really should tackle your dreams head on. I am more or less doing what this woman has done, and whilst I admit I have 18 months and a bit under me belt, most of that has been shooting landscapes.

When I open the shop, I will be advertising as a pro, I will charge pro prices, and I will try hard to offer a pro service. I was in here a fortnight ago asking how to light a white background! :D

I appreciate though what you are saying. I am extremely confident that I will get the photos to an acceptable standard.

Gary.
 
EdinburghGary said:
MagicMynx,

I am of the camp that thinks you can pretty much do anything you set your mind to. Nothing is too much of an ambition, and you really should tackle your dreams head on. I am more or less doing what this woman has done, and whilst I admit I have 18 months and a bit under me belt, most of that has been shooting landscapes.

When I open the shop, I will be advertising as a pro, I will charge pro prices, and I will try hard to offer a pro service. I was in here a fortnight ago asking how to light a white background! :D

I appreciate though what you are saying. I am extremely confident that I will get the photos to an acceptable standard.

Gary.
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That's different though Gary, it's not an overnight process IYKWIM? You didn'y just go into a shop, buy the stuff and near enough the next day tout yourself as a pro and convince aload of people to book and pay you on the basis of some out of focus images, you know? You're actively learning your stuff before you advertise your services etc.
 
This does rather gripe me too, but my only real experience of this was other people who I took my BTEC Photography course with,

One charged her friends £24 a shot to take portraits of their children, despite the fact she had no experience with portraits, then overcharged them for processing [one 7x5 shot she charged £10.99 to process then admitted it only cost 78p from snappy snaps] and got rather angry when I pointed out that as far as I was concerned unless she knew what she was doing she should treat it as good valuable experience and not a viable profit if she wasn't 100% sure she couldn't do the job well.

Another came in every week with a suitcase sized camera bag full of lenses, then took great joy in saying he'd charged his best friend £500 to cover his wedding after he'd begged him to step in when their original photographer was ill, maybe i'm just soft but I think that's just taking huge advantage of people and you're not a Photographer, if you were you'd already be earning money and not learning on a BTEC course.

Not to mention the Photos weren't of any discernible quality, but try having that argument with someone who thinks owning a bag full of equipment makes you the real deal. *rants*
 
EdinburghGary said:
MagicMynx,

I am of the camp that thinks you can pretty much do anything you set your mind to. Nothing is too much of an ambition, and you really should tackle your dreams head on. I am more or less doing what this woman has done, and whilst I admit I have 18 months and a bit under me belt, most of that has been shooting landscapes.

When I open the shop, I will be advertising as a pro, I will charge pro prices, and I will try hard to offer a pro service. I was in here a fortnight ago asking how to light a white background! :D

I appreciate though what you are saying. I am extremely confident that I will get the photos to an acceptable standard.

Gary.
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To be honest though man, I'd say the work that you produce is pretty close to pro as you can get, in my opinion. I think the OP is talking about people blatantly passing themselves off as something they're not.

I had an interesting chat with a colleague at work about something like this and we got to talking about how the only creative industry that we could think of that is in some way regulate by a governing body of some sort is architecture.
 
MagicMynx said:
That's different though Gary, it's not an overnight process IYKWIM? You didn'y just go into a shop, buy the stuff and near enough the next day tout yourself as a pro and convince aload of people to book and pay you on the basis of some out of focus images, you know? You're actively learning your stuff before you advertise your services etc.
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Nope, I literally bought the background, the lights, and then advertised. I advertised without a clue how to pose, how to light, and how to interact with the punters. I took some advice from here and I tried my hardest to do it properly, but I still jumped right in.

The shop is simply my continuation of that.

Gary.
 
KayJay said:
To be honest though man, I'd say the work that you produce is pretty close to pro as you can get, in my opinion. I think the OP is talking about people blatantly passing themselves off as something they're not.

I had an interesting chat with a colleague at work about something like this and we got to talking about how the only creative industry that we could think of that is in some way regulate by a governing body of some sort is architecture.
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you got it in one.

...and I think I agree with you, any novice can book a gig (musical) and I've heard some disgusting stuff passed off as music! :thumbsdown:
 
KayJay said:
To be honest though man, I'd say the work that you produce is pretty close to pro as you can get, in my opinion. I think the OP is talking about people blatantly passing themselves off as something they're not.

I had an interesting chat with a colleague at work about something like this and we got to talking about how the only creative industry that we could think of that is in some way regulate by a governing body of some sort is architecture.
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Cheers mate, I appreciate that. I guess I was illustrating or trying to, that it can be a quality in people to admire, and unfortunately, as quality is all subjective, the person he is referring to might actually think they are good enough. Perhaps its just someone with dreams, who needs a we nudge in the right direction.

Gary.
 
I appriciate people having dreams and all that, I just feel disappointed that there's "cowboys" everywhere in every profession and the one that's been doing my nut most recently is photography...and I'm a she...or at least I was last time hubby grabbed my chest ROFL
 
To be honest I wouldn't let it bother you, it'll only do one thing and that is cloud your judgment. Let them get on with it and concentrate on your own photography.
 
There are so many people out there, be it pro's or hobbiest, that can take/make (more make) an amazing photograph, that I can't see how anyone who is new or even fairly familiar with photography can look at their own work and firmly believe they are worthy of even entertaining requests to do paid work.

thank god I have a few quals and a lack of ambition, so I don't try going down the photo route
 
think that you will always get those who are out of there depth within any industry and set up before they are either ready or capable. it seems that time is a factor and that many people will fade away once they either realise this or things dont take off.

those will talent will more than not rise to the top and be successful, although this can take time and dedication, and will no doubt cross paths whith those who disappoint and let down their chosen field while on this journey.

I agree that Gary has reached a standard that i aspire too, but I will never have the personal confidence to take it up as a full time business. (good luck with the new venture Gary)
 
Good luck to them. its what they want to do and they are giving it a go.. they will either be a success or a failure... Why on earth it would bother an amatuer photographer who has no designs to be a pro is beyond me..

I prefer to encourage rather than slag people off for having a go.. doesnt matter how new they are to it or what anyone thinks of the quality... its not really any of your business..

MagicMynx said:
I understand if someone wants to have a friend who is "ok" at photography, take pictures for them. But that (above) I don't understand and aparently the people she does these images for "love" them! I'm just shocked.
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If her customers are happy then she is on a winner.. who are we to judge?
 
MagicMynx said:
yep. I agree with you.

First what, KayJay?

Honestly it scares me that someone can just go into a camera shop, buy some gear then suddenly, overnight, "be a pro" - imagine if doctors were like that?! Or teachers, or any other white/blue collar profession?
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To be fair it's "only" photography - I know someone who bought all the gear to set up a teeth whitening business in their hairdressing salon which is staffed by 16 year olds......
 
Its funny I posted a similar thread on the Purestorm website which read like this..

I have to say i'm pretty new to photography only been shooting about a year and still learning but I must say i'm shocked by the standard of the work of some of the photographers on here who call themselves professionals. I know I have a lot to learn still and make sure the Model knows this before a shoot, I come across lots of profiles where it looks like a photographer has got a girl in her underwear thrown a net curton on the floor and blasted a flash on full power at her. I guess it is up to the girls who they work with but I think there are some excellent non professionals on here that are so much better than people claiming to be pro's.

This will probably cause a ****** storm and get people's backs up but then if it does your the ones i'm taking about
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and this was a good reply

Amateur = no income
Semi-pro = income but not main source of income
Pro = main source of income

Calling yourself a pro has no bearing on the quality of your work.

If they're making money out of abysmal images then good luck to them - and bigger fool those for purchasing them in the first place.

I'm a semi-pro because I actually do have the odd paid shoot (declared with tax office as well - unlike a lot I'd guess). Usually I pick up the people who've had very expensive but very bad images taken beforehand - by the aforementioned pros! I think I can take a reasonable image though, but know I'm nowhere near a 'master' in the trade.
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Before I read the last post above I was going to say that being a 'Professional' anything doesn't mean that you're any good at it. All it means is that it is the way you make your living... but it was put better in the post above.

As said above, I can't understand why that would bother a hobbyist when they have no intention of going 'Pro'.

This is not exclusive to Photography either... it happens in most industries.
 
we have all taken pictures of family and friends that we thought were absolute rubbish but as they dont know the technical qualities of a good photo they love them. I would never dream of going into business to sell these average or worse pictures, but i have very high personel standards. i guess that is what some of these 'pro' togs are lacking and they see it as a way of making a quick few quid.

I have a career that i am very successfull at. photography for me is a way of satisfying my gadget addiction and my need to be perfect at everything.....which means i will never complete this hobby and it will keep me occupyed till my time is up.

I really do not understand why people get upset by the fact that some one of apparent lesser ability is making a living from photography.....stop gobbing off about it and get out there and compete with them. this is the only way that you will raise the standard!!

Just my opinion;)
 
I really do not understand why people get upset by the fact that some one of apparent lesser ability is making a living from photography.....stop gobbing off about it and get out there and compete with them. this is the only way that you will raise the standard!!
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:agree:

Pro only means you're making a living from it, which in turn means, you've got the ability to sell pictures to people. If the pictures are truly as bad as you say then they wouldn't sell any, and that would be the end of that.
 
I would say it is very easy to select a shot from maybe hundreds, process it to perfection and put it forward as an example of your work. However, as a pro, you would have a very limited opportunity to get it right first time. If the pics were grim, you would be stuck with them.

Also, the client can dictate what they want and it's not always good for the portfolio.

There is the art of photography and the business of photography. Combining the two is the real skill.

Graham
 
I don't care how long someone has been doing something, the 'experience' they have or how much they charge. If they're overnight geniuses, fairplay. But people charging professional prices for sub-professional results really annoys me!
 
I am really struggling to understand why people are annoyed at what someone else does when it doesn't even effect them ?
 
KIPAX said:
I am really struggling to understand why people are annoyed at what someone else does when it doesn't even effect them ?
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I completely agree with this.

Besides, photography is neither a regulated business, nor affects the well being of people in any fundamental way; so comparing it with doctors etc is a false comparison. And, the term professional' has no universally accepted meaning with regards to a photographer; so folks can use it in which ever way they want. It makes no difference.

One man's poor photograph is another man's genius. It has happened in all forms of art; and will always be so.
 
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