You Are Not a Photographer

I was reading around my favorite site fstoppers and came across this interesting post that it is so true; I’ve seen time and time again with the many “photographers” in my area they call themselves “Professional Photographers” and I think to myself, having a DSLR camera does not make you a professional photographer if not a hobbyist, why do this people charge all this money to do horrible job.

Are customers really looking at the photographers work, and is it done consistently throughout their shoots?

I can google Photographer in Milwaukee and I will get a large amount of hits, out of all the ones listed I can say possibly five are worthy of the title “Professional”; their work is artistic and without a doubt good.

For the most part on this list I believe the rest do it for the money and really don’t care about the work, how the person looks, if its the best angle, if the light is good to highlight areas that need the highlights.

Photography in my opinion its so competitive, mainly because they are so many out there ‘including myself’ that do this work. The difference is that I care for my images, it is my work and my work only that people will see and either I do a great job and put my passion to work or just don’t do it.

I been shooting for almost 15 years, from polaroid to film, to building my own dark room in my apartment and learning how to create images (mainly B&W), to now shooting digital. I always loved photographing people and their interesting gestures, I can see my own images taking a different direction and improving over time and still have so much to improve; I don’t consider myself a “professional photographer” because I have so much to learn.

One thing I do know I love its portraits. For me making a person look more amazing then they are it is a rewarding experience; I love to see trough their eyes and find their inner beauty, because the eyes can tell you so much about a persons personality and character. If you are a model your head shot has to start from your eyes, they have to be captivating to the viewer and say everything about you with just the look.

I also enjoy the editorial side of it, I love working with the entire team from makeup artist, hair stylist to the fashion stylist it is a team effort to create a piece of work; but in all this areas the photographer has to be involved giving the opinion to the artist, because the end result and responsibility its yours, you are the one that need to supervise their work in order to ensure yours its near perfect.

I was going to pull some images from local “professional photographers” to offer an example of awesome photography vs. What Were You Thinking… But I rather not – you go google and see for yourself.

And remember before booking your next shoot check for their work, compare the job they do with others. If a photographer tells you I charge X amount you will receive a CD with all your images from the shoot it is more than likely he/she does it for the money.

And now I leave you with a funny video…