Home Forums Main YANAP Discussion Forum Fauxs don't like amateurs!??

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  • #23426
    IHF
    Participant

    So I belong to a pretty large Facebook group with thousands of members. I was invited by friends and stayed mostly for the entertainment value. Lots of faux action (don’t judge, you all do stuff like this too)
    Yesterday someone posted a rant about how their Facebook feed is filled with people with new cameras shooting people for free, and how they are ONLY doing it to try to save money and have fun. What makes them think they can just stop using a professional photographer and just do it themselves?! It would be totally different if they were trying to learn or looking into going into business, but they aren’t. They just think they are taking great photos.
    I’m mean she was steaming over it and talked about how horrible their pictures looked, how they all turned her down when she offered to teach them, and how dare they! “I just wish I could scream at them ‘you have no idea what goes into a good professional photograph” type stuff.

    So of course I looked her up. Holy crap!! She’s front page material (I may even send one of her pictures in) lmao Shes got the whole package, right down to the silly name, $50 with all images on disc, blurry, over and under exposed images, selective color, over and under saturated cheesy horrible garbage. It’s pretty craptastic.
    Well, to my surprise there were others that agreed with her and commiserated…. Huh?
    Ok maybe I’m slow, and you all already know this… But is it possible that fauxs hate amateurs like we all hate fauxtography businesses? Like some sort of sub culture that I was unaware of that helps perpetuate the faux train even further. Fauxtographers pressuring new camera owners to open up shop or quit taking pictures and sharing them because they are harshing their faux mellow and taking their pretend under the table shoddy businesses down? “How dare she! She better start charging something soon or I’m going to have to have a talk with her”.
    ” I know! Did you see how out of focus that picture of her niece was?! lol She sucks! She should charge at least $20. She’s driving me crazy. Doesn’t she know what really goes into all of this?!”

    So… am I slow, or living under a rock? Or are you all just as bewildered by this as I am?

    #23427
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    I grew up looking at Time, Life, and National Geographic magazines.  So that’s what my idea of good photography is.  Most of the photographers that claimed to be professional have never measured up.

    This site has definitely been an education for me, as have some other places on the Internet.  I have been amazed at what people are willing to pay for, and that people seem willing to pay $50 or $100 for many bad photos but are seemingly unwilling to pay two or three times that for much better photos.  I have been surprised by customers defending low quality photography.  They didn’t care about the quality of the photos, just that they were in them, and that they liked the photographer because they were neighbours.

    Even in engineering and medicine where the science is fairly solid and there are a lot of tests and exams, you will meet good practitioners and bad ones.  Photography is part science and part art, so the differences are amplified, and the tests are not as formalized.  Fauxtography is part photography and part business.  Differences are amplified even more!

    Business is an interesting environment.  Some businesses have fairly major barriers to entry, taking engineering and medicine as examples — you need quite a bit of education, and there are exams and tests.  Law is a similar environment, you go to school, then article, and you have to pass the exams and be called to the bar before you are allowed to practice on your own.  Some businesses like photography have a lower barrier to entry — you need a camera.  Those who perceive someone else is eating their lunch will tend to complain.  If someone is offering a less expensive product or more palatable solution those who are affected will object, it’s human nature.  In the news there is an app called Uber that is affecting the taxi industry.  http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/16/an-uber-valuation-comes-with-uber-problems/   Cities are complaining as are taxi companies because the app is changing the landscape and affecting revenue while highlighting the fact that many cities are under served by taxi companies.

    Our niece had a child last summer.  Every time they come to town, or we visit them, I take lots of photos.  So, I suppose I am one of those the fauxtographers are complaining about since I’m taking pictures instead of hiring someone else to take them.  But I have the view that I should not pay someone else to do something I have time and knowledge and tools to do, more so since I enjoy it.  Besides, it’s a nice change from landscapes, water drops and light bulbs!

    Caveat emptor.

    #23428
    emf
    Participant

    ” I know! Did you see how out of focus that picture of her niece was?! lol She sucks! She should charge at least $20. She’s driving me crazy. Doesn’t she know what really goes into all of this?!”

    Where these consecutive sentences? ‘She sucks! She should charge at least $20.’??!!! That says it all I guess. It’s really sad. I think a group like that would be fascinating to join, like going on a faux safari or something, However, I worry it would make my head implode with frustration lol!

    #23430
    IHF
    Participant

    Oh gosh emf, I apologize.

    those last sentences were just me imagining a convo between two fauxs about amateurs, and not actual quotes. Sorry, it was misinterpreted. Just me trying to understand the anger and frustration over a person taking their own portraits/pictures of their own family and friends for free. Isn’t this what my camera is for? Taking pictures of what I want to keep with me.
    I know that anyone that has a new camera and shares their photos or expresses any interest in photography instantly gets pressure and/or encouragement to go pro “You should charge for this. I’d pay you”, but I had no idea they were also getting pressured by fauxtographers that know them.

    Camera clicker,
    Makes a little more sense after your explanation.

    I remember when our NatGeo would show up. I’d start salivating lol but I was the youngest in the family and had to wait for my turn with it. I’d take a while because my older sister was an aspiring artist and she’d spend days and days with it, sketching ideas and tracing and studying. Same with our Wold mag, TV guide, readers digest, Cricket, etc, but the a National Geographic was the very hardest to wait for. Sometimes just looking at the pictures can make me physically cry. That’s powerful stuff right there.

    It seems while my standards for good photography keeps rising, everyone else around me is lowering theirs. I find all of this faux stuff so strange, and very interesting at the same time. Maybe it’s because of lack of exposure? Not ever having a Nat Geo right in their hands in front of them. Not ever having a well done portrait in their hands. Not smelling or feeling the paper, not seeing the images except online. They don’t get it, because they aren’t exposed to it?

    I was having a discussion with my teen daughter one day who thinks photography isn’t an art form or a true medium. Same girl who uses photographs all the time to sketch and come up with ideas, ugh! “Why do you think you are attracted to this picture? Yes, the subject looks fantastic and you have a super star crush on him, but… Would it have given you the same feeling without the wardrobe, without the lighting, without the environment, without the POV?”. We had plenty of discussions like this in the past, but this time I showed her Steve McCurry, Dorothea Lange, Alfred Eisentaed (oops spelling lol), and anyone else I could come up with that might spark her insides. She was closer to getting it, but not really there. But, when I bought her a special edition of Life and brought it home to her, she got it. I will never forget the way she felt it. Yes, my pictures may not be art to her, and her friends pictures, and paparazzi photos may not be art to her, but real great photography is. “Look at the light. Look at the shadow. Look at the expression, the emotion, the color, the tones, the feel. A photograph can change the world inside you”. She may not be as big of a fan as I am, but she gets it now. Only because she was exposed. Shame on me for not exposing her to it her whole life. But, I’m like anyone else these days.

    #23432
    picstop
    Participant

    Firstly, I don’t truly care about what fauxs think. I’m not trying to be elitist. It’s just that no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep. And that goes for those who think the output of these people is just amazing. So if the faux thinks I’m overpriced and those beneath them are wrongly shooting for free, I don’t care.
    However, I have always thought one day to make up a list, and I think it’ll be long, as to why people think the output of these fauxs is good enough. Ugh, I hate that expression. Since when is “good enough” acceptable in this world? Since when do people settle for having anything in their lives be “good enough”. That’s why we have cars that are endlessly recalled, cameras with little DR, furniture that lasts years and not decades, homes made of chipboard and not real wood and on and on. And of course, photos that are “good enough”. Really? You want your precious memories to be “good enough” which in most cases with a faux is “good enough” according to an even lower standard than most. But I digress a bit.
    So, just for now, let me continue on with what you started and that’s the acceptance of so many for crappy photography. Like many, I too grew up looking at great photos. I know what’s good and what’s not, immediately. I don’t need someone to point out the poor lighting, lack of depth, correct skin tones and on and on. Many people today have grown up with pure garbage phone photo snaps and as long as something in it is remotely recognizable, it’s a “great shot of you guys!”. So when a faux takes a shot that’s very slightly better than the garbage they are used to, it’s “amazing”. These poor souls have never seen a good photo. They may have seen their friend’s wedding album done by a decent photographer and compared it to their faux wedding pics. They still think their own are great. Why? Because to truly show them what’s good and crappy is to have a real photographer and faux shoot their wedding side by side. A direct comparison of the same shot is what it takes for many to see the difference. I don’t know how many weddings I’ve done where the bride picks up her albums and is so glad that she can see the detail in her dress, the detail in the tux and vest and on and on (as she knew she would) after seeing all the pics guests and family took with their “pro” dslrs that she’d been looking at waiting for me to get her albums put together. As for the rest of the people thinking the fauxs are great, they’ve had nothing to compare the crap output to so will never get it. They are turning in to the generation of it’s “good enough”. And the bar sinks ever lower as the years go on.

    #23433
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    I was having a discussion with my teen daughter one day who thinks photography isn’t an art form or a true medium. Same girl who uses photographs all the time to sketch and come up with ideas, ugh! “Why do you think you are attracted to this picture? Yes, the subject looks fantastic and you have a super star crush on him, but… Would it have given you the same feeling without the wardrobe, without the lighting, without the environment, without the POV?”.

    That’s pretty funny since what you have posted looks good!

    I’m glad there’s hope!  Grand-niece’s mother sometimes takes photos from my Flickr page and has them printed 4 X 6, then gives them back to us!  Typically the photos were resized to 1024 X 683 px before posting so they load quickly.  She’s a bright girl, a practicing RN with a string of post graduate degrees.  I don’t know why she doesn’t get that I took the photo and have the raw file, and a printer.

    I shot the little one a couple of weeks ago and selected a shot to print.  So this coming weekend I’m giving her a 13 X 19 photo in a floating photo frame.  We’ll see if it makes an impression.

    #23440
    IHF
    Participant

    Thanks CC 🙂

    I really DO think it will make an impression

    “Firstly, I don’t truly care about what fauxs think. I’m not trying to be elitist. It’s just that no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep. And that goes for those who think the output of these people is just amazing. So if the faux thinks I’m overpriced and those beneath them are wrongly shooting for free, I don’t care”.

    In the sense that it doesn’t interfere with what I do, or affect me in anyway, I don’t care either. But, in the “I can’t look away” during a car wreck kind of way, I’m just so very compelled to be interested in what they do, think, and say. I can’t help it. It’s almost a reflex or instinct that I don’t have control over. “I must study this faux phenomenon”. hehehe

    “Elitist” To me you don’t sound elitist at all… but I’m beginning to think that being an elitist isn’t such a bad thing to be after all. Most of my photographer friends are (or more accurately, have been accused of being) elitists, including myself (which is strange considering I’ve never stepped up to play the game of going pro). So if someone ever accuses you of elitism from here on out, just take it as a compliment. It just means you give a shit about your photography, and photography in general, and that’s A OK in my book.

    #23467
    picstop
    Participant

    “In the sense that it doesn’t interfere with what I do, or affect me in anyway, I don’t care either. But, in the “I can’t look away” during a car wreck kind of way, I’m just so very compelled to be interested in what they do, think, and say. I can’t help it. It’s almost a reflex or instinct that I don’t have control over. “I must study this faux phenomenon”. hehehe”

    Actually this is really more what I meant when I said I don’t care. Indeed, it’s just that I don’t let the faux mindset or culture affect my daily life as in “those “pros” charge too much so hire me”. Funny how they call themselves pros too and really, all that matters is what my customers think.

    For the most part, I think most care about their photos and abilities. You don’t have to be a pro. Simple knowing the difference between good and bad, learning as much as you have time for, are willing to devote to the craft, and apply it to the best of your ability. Just because you are not charging for photos doesn’t mean they aren’t any good. Just because you’ve found someone to pay for your photos doesn’t mean you’re a pro. One of the many things that separates a faux from a photographer is the desire to engage the craft and produce the best photo according to your ability and to realize that there is always something new to learn and not be satisfied that you’ve hit “good enough” and don’t need to pursue new ideas. It’s a great feeling to look back at older photos and compare them to today and actually see improvement, myself included. And along with that, I’m always looking at how to make the next pic even better. And yes, I get that impression from you too. If only we could inspire some of these fauxs to aspire to something greater…..

    #23468
    JLiu
    Participant

    “If only we could inspire some of these fauxs to aspire to something greater…..”

    If only it were that easy. It’s hard to find anyone that really cares to excel much anymore. For crying out loud – they give out ribbons for 20th place.

     

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