How Fauxtography Starts

[octophoto]

I was scrolling through my news feeds on my facebook, and I cam across this gem. I’ve never actually seen the beginnings of fauxtographer first hand, but I guess this is as close as it’s going to get.

http://tinypic.com/r/4v0k93/6

[fstopper89]

Oh boy… I’d write a long comment like “Yeah! Make sure you go into the photography program in college, and take some business classes and marketing classes as well. If you do this and then get some great practice, you could someday be a great photographer! And if you have any questions, I can help you because I’m a photographer myself.” (assuming you are a photographer too). But watch, they’ll probably start posting a bunch of pictures from their point-and-shoot soon and charging $25.

[kbee]

I am hoping this is coming from a high-schooler’s “When I Grow Up I Wanna Be” place, and not a MWAC who has a point and shoot and a baby.

[octophoto]

They’re studying something else in college, but I don’t believe they have any intention on changing their major.

I think that’s what irks me the most, is people actively pursuing other careers (like nursing or something) who decide to say photography is their passion and they’re going to charge for it and try to run a business. If it’s a hobby, that’s one thing, but when you make a crudely thrown together website on wix.com and say you’re going to open your own studio with the help of your parents, while you are going to school for something completely different, which is also very time consuming… that’s completely different. That’s when you’re a fauxtographer, to me anyway.

We all start off somewhere, and maybe if I was on Facebook 8 years ago when I started, I would have posted a status similar to this as a high school student going into college, as a way of declaring my major to family and friends. I just know this person isn’t going to go to their academic adviser and decide to change their major. They’re going to pick up a camera, and probably do exactly what browneyedgirl suggested.

[dstone81]

Yeah that would irk me too. I want to take some college courses for photography just because I want to learn more about it. Not to go out and charge people for it. I want to major in Physical and Occupational Therapy.  Yes photography is a passion of mine (but as a hobby and not a career) but so is helping others.

[kbee]

With that insight, octo, I facepalmed. I’m still overly optimistic and hoping, judging by the screen cap you posted, that the person in question takes themselves seriously and swaps their major to pursue their ‘love’ of photography. Probably not, though, as you indicated. That would, agreed here, irk me as well.

“I’m in college for engineering, but I want to be a photographer! But I’m still in engineering school!” I only wish, when I was in college, I had the certainty of what I wanted to do. If I had even the slightest inkling of wanting to do photography as a profession, I would have swapped my graphic designer major in a heartbeat.

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