Home Forums Am I a Fauxtog? Is this a Fauxtog?

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  • #19237
    cole435
    Participant

    A friend used this photographer at their wedding and I wasn’t impressed by his demeanour and the angles he was shooting at.

    I saw his website and I just need to know if I’m being hypercritical whether this photographer can be classified as a “Fauxtog”

    http://www.mikewellsphoto.com

    #19238
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    I went through a couple of galleries and I see control and post processing that is well beyond anything I would expect a fauxtographer to be capable of.   Attitude shines through the photos, so I can see you may not care for his demeanour, or angles, but I think he clearly knows what he is doing and is executing his vision.

    #19258
    alisamer
    Participant

    I vote “not faux”. He seems to have a particular look that won’t appeal to all people (and I liked his wedding shots least of all the ones I looked at) but it looks to me like he knows what he’s doing and does it pretty well.

    #19262
    cole435
    Participant

    Really? His wedding section has feet cut off in two of the first four photos, quite noticeable white vignetting and IMO an excessive reduction of clarity in some other shots. It could just be my personal tastes though.

    #19266
    Trainwreck
    Participant

    Hi cole435!

    I’d say this is borderline. I see a lot of stuff I wouldn’t let out the door and for what seems to me to be obvious reasons. But I also see some decent stuff.

    However, if I had hired this guy to shoot for me and he presented me with bad crops (which you mentioned), monos and color that were so contrasty and shadows long ago crushed, lighting that puts half a face in complete darkness with a hard line and no graduated transition (that’s kind of very scary looking), and highlights (especially skin features) blown to no recovery I’d be miffed. If he handed me this for my wedding shoot I would consider breaking the contract (if there was one) and re-negotiating for the shots I liked. And if there was a contract and he is not a legal, tax paying, licensed business he wouldn’t have a leg to stand if he brought litigation. And if he insisted on litigation I’d just happily offer to report him to the IRS (in the USA) and see how much fun he’d be having then! If he did not guarantee satisfaction I wouldn’t hire him to begin with. When I am in contract with a Client they get a no questions asked 100% guarantee. And I am what I would call only a “semi-professional” if that because I don’t do it full time to pay the bills. Of course, I don’t shoot weddings. But a re-negotiation could be done for what is acceptable to both parties. All told after looking at his website I wouldn’t hire him anyway for my wedding! So why did your “friend” if there is a problem?

    No comment on demeanor. He wasn’t shooting for you. He was shooting for your friend’s wedding. Not your call.

    On the other hand your guy is capable of some very good stuff too. So what you are leaving out here is what your “friend’ thinks of what he paid and how the hired gun treated them. And did the “friend” get some shots he/she was happy with? Personal axe to grind? Are you a photographer? What would you do differently? Glass house and stones?

    Cole435? The only way these so-called “fauxtographers” can exist is because Clients allow it. We can whine, piss, and moan all we want (and I surely do!) but it doesn’t change that fact. Simple supply and demand.

    So? Are you looking to help your friend because you think he/she might have been ripped off? Or are you just not happy with this photographer personally?

    #19271
    cole435
    Participant

    Thanks for the response. The wedding was this past weekend, so I have no idea how the pictures actually look. I don’t know why my friend hired the photographer, and it was a questionable conversation which made me want to dig a little deeper into his business.

    If my friend didn’t like the shots, I just wanted to make sure that there was some justification.

    #19277
    nesgran
    Participant

    I’ll go with borderline. He does lots of the classic faux things like poor focus etc but then he has some quite nice portraits as well. I wonder if he is just a lot better when he has time to set everything up

    This is not a guy I would have hired for my wedding or recommended if one of my friends were shopping around. Some of the stuff could probably have been somewhat mitigated by better editing and cropping but lots of shots were poor at best. This would have looked so much better if he had just left the crap photos off his website and you would have thought he was an average tog at least

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