Why Do People Encourage Bad Photography?

[FreeTog]

Do people not know what good or even decent photography is? Are people’s perceptions so skewed that I’m not seeing it?

Take for example this: https://www.facebook.com/becky.bennett.photography

If you go over a few of her photoshoots/gigs I see a reoccurring theme with her photography:
White balance is rarely done properly; people are either grey or green
She LOVES to superimpose people onto background and give the top layer a more opaque or transparent look.
When the horizon is slightly off, she should correct it. Else she should exaggerate it so it looks like it was done on purpose
She loves to use white vignettes

She does have the _odd_ decent photo but her following seems decent and that is a shocker to me.

I check her FB page from time to time to see if she’s done anything different but it doesn’t seem to happen.

Am I wrong to be at a loss as to why people pay her for what she produces?

[nesgran]

Three things I think, 1) people are now so used to the instagram crap and mobile phone cameras in general they see anything shot with a dslr as amazing quality 2) People have emotional attachments to the photos, see http://www.takeoffyourmommygoggles.com/ for a great summary and finally 3) You pay someone and you’d feel stupid if the shots aren’t great and you tell yourself it is great when it isn’t. It is like when you buy something that is expensive but turns out to be utter shite

She really ought to get the new lightroom and run the automatic perspective correction on everything, I’m honestly getting seasick. If she straightened her shots out and stopped with the god awful edits she wouldn’t be a faux, merely an average photographer (at best). I wonder if it is facebook because every shots seems to be slightly out of focus

 

She is someone who ought to have her photoshop licence revoked

[iliketag]

Before I say anything, I’m curious about your relationship with this “photographer”. Is it just someone local? Someone you know? Someone you have bad blood with?

We’ve had a heap of people come on here trying to rally us against someone and it’s never really worked in their favor. A little background to this would be nice.

[Worst Case Scenario]

Discussing why people encourage bad photography seemed like a good thread, but the example you have chosen to give just makes it look you have  a grudge against them. I’ll gladly stick my neck out and say that I think Bennet Photography looks okay to me. Not WOW AMAZING but nowhere near bad enough to mentioned on this site, let alone in this context.

[cameraclicker]

I don’t see anything that screams the need to be on the front page here.  I, too, wonder how much damage Facebook is doing to the photos.  I’ll echo WCS.  Not WOW AMAZING but nowhere near bad enough to be mentioned on this site, let alone in this context.

[JCFindley]

WCS and clicker sum up my thoughts as well.

 

[iliketag]

Exactly what they said. She simply looks like a beginner to me. Should she be charging? Probably not. But when people want things documented on the cheap? She’s not the worst of the lot.

[Manual Mode]

I too am in line with the reactions here. The example tog isn’t worthy of being on this site. Not awesome but not terrible by any means. There is something also to be said for consistency. If the level of editing and the placing subjects on other backgrounds whether straight or not is a consistent theme throughout the portfolio, then this gives a potential customer something to be fairly assured of as far as the level of quality and intent for delivered images from the photographer.  I think some photographers use colored vignette for no other reason than to be different, rather than making a conscious decision to match the vignette to the composition or color of the image.

[FreeTog]

I dont have anything personally against her.  Just had someone show me her FB page recently and I’ve been looking through it. Was told she’s been doing it for at least 5 years.

I agree that her stuff shouldnt be front page here.. but it’s just one that recently has been on my mind as to why people will say things like “Oh that is soo cool” or “That is awesome, how did you do it” when it comes to things like overlays, white vignette etc.

I applaud her for making money on it. I haven’t been able to quit my day job to do photography full-time so kudos for that to her.

 

 

[IHF]

First,  I agree She shouldn’t be charging, but that’s beside the point.

The “following” eh I don’t see it.  It’s just not there.  I have more action on my personal page.  The likes are mostly liking ladder likes from other togs that like to pretend they make some sort of a living with their photography and dont even follow.  All they have is a hobby, that involves taking money from people who love their families.  Unless she’s doing 2 or more sessions every day and at least a wedding a month… She most likely isn’t even giving herself minimum wage.  That is unless she like so many others and isn’t legal, doesn’t pay taxes, and isn’t insured like so many others.  She falls into the most common category of ho hum, average novice tog with a Facebook and a price list.  Everything seems legit and successful on the surface, but it’s just a facade that they created for themselves.  It must be fun, or attractive somehow to pretend so hard that you’re making money and running a business taking pictures of cute kids.  I don’t understand it.  I try to understand it, but it makes no sense to me how much effort and money they pour into it, and get so very little in return for it.  Wouldn’t it be better to have WAY less expenses and just shoot for yourself Without all that “networking” (having a tog on the other side of the country or another country, that you never even page visit, is NOT networking) marketing, servicing, pressure etc? To make it appear to your clients you’ve got it going on?  I feel like with so many out there faking it till they make it (or most likely give up ) I might be missing out on something.  Am I?  Or are they all missing out?  I’m convinced its the latter.

[cameraclicker]

I’m not following the “doesn’t pay taxes” piece.  Here, relevant taxes are income tax and sales tax.  Income tax is paid on income after the first $10,000 (give or take) is deducted, and it is a sliding percentage, the more you make the greater the percentage.  Sales tax is charged on top of the sale price and is paid by the purchaser.  If you are a corporation, you get to deduct a percentage before remitting the remainder to the government.  If you make $10, minimum wage, it takes 1,000 hours or about half a year of 40 hour weeks to reach the point where income tax is charged.  Of course, income is income so if you have a regular job and this is a side thing, you get there sooner.

Is it still work, if you enjoy it?

[FreeTog]

Chances are if someone is being paid in cash, it’s most likely under the table and then not used reported during tax time.  So I can see that part being the “doesn’t pay taxes”.

[fstopper89]

She’s not great, but not horrible either. Her stuff mostly is in focus but her editing is sub-par. If she’s been doing it for 5 years I think she should be a little better though, but that’s my opinion. I wouldn’t hire her but I wouldn’t say she’s ruining the industry of photography or anything like that.

 

[HouseTiger]

It seems her style is driven by a particular taste her clients prefer and one she seems to like a lot. For the *most* part, I don’t see her work as good or bad, but there is a shot of a family on a staircase and while that can be very challenging, she was ostensibly being paid to document that family event and she framed it poorly. If her subjects insisted on those stairs I feel she could have made it much more interesting and what she produced was a snapshot. So, my 2 cents on one photo that caught my eye.

I do think there is some truth to the suggestion that fewer people have an idae of what a great or good photo should look like. Now that everyone has cameraphones, etc. and people aren’t exactly pausing to apply the rule of thirds before posting the 15th photo of their son that day, I do think we have accepted a broader range of what is photography.

And, oh dear, by the standards of  I Hate Fauxtography, some months I’m a legit pro photog but other times I’m not. : /

[IHF]

House tiger,

oh gosh!  I didn’t mean to make anyone feel that way.  You have to remember the context, and what the OP was saying.  she was questioning why do people encourage, and didnt understand all the business she was getting, and the following.  On the surface, yes, it looks as though she’s doing quite well, but if you look closely… It’s just a little cash on the side, and a handful of people following or hiring, and a lot of effort to make it seem otherwise.

This happens a lot.  Is it a horrible thing to do and shame on them for it?  “They are not a photographer!” No, it’s… What are the words I’m looking for?  It’s… A happy place they’ve created.  It’s a hobby without the benefits of having a hobby, but they don’t see it that way.  If there was an accountant involved they’d say we’ll “you’re losing about $$$$ a year being in business”.  I hope that helps you to understand what I was trying to say.  Sort of a “hey!  Don’t let her or others like her discourage you.  It’s not as it seems”.

So to a person more grounded who’s thinking “damn! I only had one session this month, and I only have 40 fans WTH Does she have that I don’t have!?”  Well, you actually have 30 people following you and who are truly interested, and you most likely had the same amount of paid sessions as she did, you just are more realistic than she is about things.  Keep going, don’t fake it, be honest with yourself, and don’t try to create a facade, you’re most likely ahead of her in the game.

 

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