DSLRUsers.com

Just a short article from the SMH:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/cameras--vid ... 49638.html

I wonder if mum's will be discriminated against at beaches in the same way.

So what?

For years Photogs have been screwing people over, charging rediculous prices, into the high thousands to shoot a wedding, now the average person has access to technology and find they can produce a reasonable image they are happy with.

It's like shooting motorsports at club days, every person seems to have a camera, and there are no shortage of DSLR's, I know if I want to sell shots I have to produce tight cropped racing shots. I look at what some folks try to sell to drivers and I am shocked that anyone would buy them.

At the end of the day, if photogs want to sell there stuff, they have to be producing a much higher quality images, and marketing it correctly.

IMHO of course!

I can draw a [bad] analogy with the financial planning industry. There is so much out there (online discount brokers, internet financial calculators, bank based financial planners, etc) that people can have a go at this stuff themselves. Does that DYI approach or the 15,000+ financial planners in the industry create concern for me regarding competition? No, for the following reasons:

1. The more people try to do what we do themselves based on $6 magazines, calculators, discount brokers, the more work we will eventually have trying to fix their mistakes.
2. There are simply enough customers/clients out there to go around. Ignoring licensing issues (which is not an issue for photography, as I understand it), if another planner set up shop next door, I would hardly worry.
3. Ths simple fact that if someone wants to haggle about fees because they "can do it themselves" or because they can get a plan done by a bank planner for $500 "while you wait", I can easily say "next"!

I basically think there are enough clients and prospective clients out there for professional, good quality industry patricipants.

The people (planners/photographers/list any other industry) who should be worried are those who provide poor quality and especially those who provide poor quality and equally poor value for money.

P

Good luck to any one who wishes to take their photography to the next level and turn it into a profession. In the end it only benifits everyone, as the good ones raise the standards yet again and the bad make the good far more appreciated. Any one has the right to have a go, there is no secret society you have to be a member of and no course that you need to study. The masters of the past were by and large mostly self taught. Talent will always find a way of rising to the top and over shadowing the average..

The camera in the hands of a photographer, is the same as a paint brush in the hands of a painter. There are good artists and bad, and everything in between. A better brush will never make a better artist.

Bob

The article says it all:

A photographer is not a person with some expensive gear. A photographer is part artist and part craftsperson plus experience.

Anyone can buy expensive gear - it's the artistry and experience that take time to develop.

It does worry me a little the number of people who think that just because they have a DSLR they are capable of going into business. I do weddings and I know how important getting the best result is, they are stressful and you really have to work to get the best results. Seeing someone blazing away with their little 400D and popup flash is just scarey.

My main concern is for the people having the work done, but I guess they are getting it cheap and you get what you pay for.

In the last two years I have been to quite a few wedings where the photographer was a friend with a DSLR.

I look at the results compared to what profesionals produce and the difference is worlds apart.

I dips me lid to wedding photogs - I reckon it is a really hard gig. It's not all about the mechanics of photography, it's also about people management, being able to conceive a suitable concept, and being able to work under the pressure of the event with people who can be incredibly stressed, and to produce acceptable results within the time frame allowed.

I have had many relos ask me to "do" their wedding and I always refuse and tell them to hire a pro. That doesn't stop me from taking my camera to the wedding, taking the pix that I enjoy (whilst still being able to enjoy the wedding) and giving them to the couple as a supplement. I have even given Momento books as wedding presents to people who have engaged a professional weding photog.

At a wedding I attended last year, taking my camera with me, the wedding photog had exactly the same gear as mine. During the reception, he set up his laptop with a projector and screen and showed about 5 minutes worth of pix. They were truly excellent, and the audience was spellbound. (I felt like selling my equipment )

But still I had some candid pix that he did not, and the couple were pleased to see them too.