http://youarenotaphotographer.com/
This site does a few things
- Reminds me that there are really mean people out there willing to spend money to spread their negative opinions.
- Reveals the fact that EVERYONE thinks they are a photographer. Some even believe they’re worthy of having money spent on them… and aren’t.
- Reminds me that if I don’t pay attention to what I post, I might end up being a case in point.
On that last point. When I goon a photo shoot, no less than 99% of the images on the card are amazing immediate works of art that need no post-processing. If you can’t shoot with that level of perfection, YOU ARE NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER.
yeah right!
Without a studio environment, expensive glass, an angel on your shoulder and a pocketful of Irish gold most images will NOT come out of the camera as a ready made Rembrandt masterpiece. I would estimate that if I shot a full day wedding. I’d have taken approximately 600 exposures which would get trimmed down to about 300 images. Of those 300, maybe 30 needed no post-processing before I’d ship them out. (And I’d still be tempted to just find out if I could improve them.. )
It’s obvious that some “fauxtographers” don’t execute that level of scrutiny… and it shows in their work. I aspire to never post a picture that could find it’s way onto a mean site like the one above. As a matter of fact, I’m beginning to get to the point where I don’t even want to post pictures that are great, but not amazing. Great pictures make customers happy. But they don’t impress anyone but the client. Amazing photographs, like the ones I aspire to create, make everyone stop and stare. Amazing pictures get you lost in a feeling, or take you to a place and immerses you in it. It takes time to take your eyes off of them, and when you do, you wish you would look back.
That is where I want to be. That is my goal.
