Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by. I have some funny things to talk about today. So let's get started.
Recently, I've been spending a lot of time looking on the Internet for different projects ideas for some things I’m doing. The Internet's kind of an amazing thing. It's surprising what you can find on the Internet. The information that’s available is simply boundless. It seems like that if there is some sort of an idea for a project you have somebody has already put something about it on the You Tube. The thing that has struck me the most is the kind of knowledge that seems to be exhibited by some of these folks who are putting these examples of techniques on the You Tube. Some of the ideas they are demonstrating are quite good. But in demonstrating those ideas they also show a great deal of inexperience and lack of knowledge of photography. In fact I was watching one gentleman trying to demonstrate a technique using a fishbowl and different lighting setups. This guy would record his video for about a minute describing what he was doing and then pause the video to set up for the shot and then come back and say, "We're going to change our lighting set up." This guy changed his lights set up four times before he even took the shot. It drove me crazy to watch it. You would think if you want to make a good tutorial on the You Tube you would have your set up the way you want it before you start videoing. Don't get me wrong, the information that I got from the video was great. I got a lot of ideas from it. But the way he did the video made him look silly. This is but one example of many that I saw on YouTube. It was really clear that the majority of the people who were giving these tutorials were falling into the old saying of the blind leading the blind. On a couple of these tutorials, they were instructing people to use a higher ISO and shutter speed. This would probably be a good time to have one of my own tutorials as I tell you that when you use a higher shutter speed or higher ISO setting the colors of the photograph will not be as vibrant or as sharp and therefore the quality of the picture overall will be diminished. With that said, the idea is that these guys are just out shooting blindly it would appear and there’s not sound reason or skill behind their actions. Just what appears to be trial and error. Don’t get me wrong, lots of photographs have a certain amount of trial and error to them but there needs to be some knowledge behind the efforts not to mention that if you are giving a tutorial on a subject it would be on one that you had a bit of experience in doing at least once.
So what’s my point? Just more evidence that there are a lot of folks out there who have a “good camera” and think that makes them a “good photographer”. I was reminded while I watched some of these “train wrecks” of the words of Abraham Lincoln when he said that “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” If the object is to gains some credibility it didn’t work, in fact it did just the opposite for me. Now, am I an expert in these matters? Nope! But I am in the field and while I want to give them some credit for the effort and at least experimenting, I’m not sure these folks are giving a good name to those in the profession when they fumble around reminiscent of the Three Stooges or the Keystone Cops.
I have fought with myself over the past day or so trying to decide how these guys might fall into my Photogology movement. On the one hand they have very little if any knowledge backing them up let alone professionalism but on the other side they are experimenting and trying to get better. All of them were using manual or shutter/aperture priority settings so they were above the Automatic curve. Even up to now the fight continues, so much so that I took a break to think it out again. My conclusion? Well, I’m not sure that I have one other than this. As I thought about this I recalled a photographer who has a business that thrives much better than ours. He doesn’t have any formal training that I have heard about and, if I not mistaken has even been heard to say he doesn’t know much about how camera works or at least the principles behind its operating. But the guy does know how to make it work even though he may not know the reasons or science behind it. He has just continued to work at taking great photographs and learns from his experiences. He’s taken outstanding photos all around the world and makes far more money at what he does than I do. So if he can take all those outstanding photos without being a whiz at knowing the ends and out of all the parts of the camera and proper names of all the fancy techniques of photography what’s the difference? I know a lot of other “Professional Photographers” who have all kinds of degrees, certifications, and a lot of letters behind their name and they sure don’t impress me a bit. It’s kind of like the old heater repairman who was called after numerous younger repairmen from a couple of big name repair companies had failed to repair an old outdated heater. After being on the job for only 15 minutes, the outdate heater roared back to life. When the company received his bill for $1000.00 they called protesting the amount. After all, it only took 15 minutes to complete the work. The old repairman said he understood and would resend another bill. When the second bill arrived it stated that for the 15 minutes it took for the need repairs the charge was $50. For knowing how to repair the heater the charge was $950. The company paid the bill.
So where is the foul on these You Tube videos if not the knowledge levels on display. After all experimenting helps to acquire knowledge and as pointed out in the example above with the photographer I was writing about, that’s reportedly how he has gotten where he is today. Let’s face it. Even the best pro photographers take some very ugly shots. They make faux pas all the time, and that includes me! The question is how many of those miscues are you the viewer of the work going to see? That’s right, NONE! Why? Because the love and passion for the field demands that we get it right for our clients and all who view our work. “If a thing like this is worth doing at all, it’s worth doing right.”- Hunter S. Thompson. And there in lays the key to all of this. There are so many folks out there who “play at it” in my opinion. They take pictures of weddings and students because they like to or to make a fast buck but don’t want to take the effort to do it right. They’re placing the focus in the wrong place. It’s not that they don’t care; it’s what they care about. The Bible in the books of Matthew and Luke both say that “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In an earlier posting I talked about the three dirty little secrets of photography. Maybe we should add a forth. Care about your work and be passionate about the profession. Don’t get personal value at the expense of the client or the profession. Yes it’s ok to receive pay, recognition, and value from you work and even take a health amount of pride in it. But I am afraid that far too many folks don’t have any of that in mind. When one’s care doesn’t venture past themselves, it doesn’t venture far enough. The moments we work to capture are important and will never be repeated again. They are someone’s life long memories, not momentary ego builders. They are a one of kind act of art and captured beauty, not another dollar towards a 42” TV. Yes, times are hard but that gives no excuse for gaming the profession. Times are hard for the clients as well which is why we should care for them more than ever. Zig Ziglar once said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you just help other people get what they want.” Caring is not a one way street if you want to be a success in getting what you really want. I don’t know much about Chi but I know that a lot of folks believe that “what goes around, comes around”. You may get by with gaining at the expense of others for a while but sooner or later you learn that Pigeons shouldn’t poop on statues. If you don’t get that let me know and I will tell you the story.
So where is your treasure? What do you care about? I don’t know what some of those folks on You Tube were attempting to accomplish but it has reminded me of how important caring about my work is and should continue to be. How about you?
That’s it for me today kids! Have a great day everybody…..and care!
Richard
