"Death of Photography"
I have recently questioned what I do as a trained artist photographer when I keep seeing the rise of instagram and Facebook photographers with no artistic, creative or technical skills.
It is not a question of hobbies vs full time professional, rather one of skill level and artistic training. Would I use a doctor or accountant that was not trained? Would I use a Makeup Artist or Hairdresser for a professional shoot for a magazine? or would I just ask the model to do her own? For me it is a question of quality. Professionalism is about seeking a professional standard, a quality to the product that makes it outstanding beyond the norm.
With the rise of camera phones being the new snap shot, and the insta filters to give your shot a professional look, the average person is now seeing themselves as producing the work that we sort in professional experienced photographers.
It is well known and understood that these phone cameras are designed to be viewed small on the phone or web quality images. Even with more mega pixels they do not replace the professional camera and lighting that is needed for larger images for printing or the detail needed for high end editing.
As a professional photographer editing is as important as the right shot to start with . It is about taking the artistic vision and having the skills to create it. An insta filter or even photoshop action, is not what makes the right image. It is the 20-100 little increments we make to an image to give the feel, tell the story and create the final image. Professional retouchers work with most high end photographers and magazine to take good to great. If this was not so then these talented professionals would not be needed.
Professional photographers remain a threatened species. The media is increasingly only using freelance photographers and often taking advantage of the on the spot shots, taken by the iPhone generation.
To be a photographer an artist, we are story tellers with images. Once the traditional painter was used to capture the family event or stages in their lives, this led to the family portrait and now with the accessibility of the camera phone and snap cameras is there still a place for the family photographer? I believe there is. What I create is the best you, in capturing the image, I tell the story of you. The artist/photographer greatness, comes from our artistic skills and the medium is simply the tool we use.
Painters once created our most beautoful portraits.
A professional portrait photographer captures your beauty and creates a new vision.
Olamos says” I'll survive in this profession because I have skills, I'm a storyteller in images; my compositions are better than most people's. Just because you've got a microprocessor in your computer doesn't make you a writer. And just because you've got an Instagram app on your phone you aren't a great photographer."
As a beauty photographer I see many beautiful girls on instagram selfies that when they come to the studio, just do not have what it takes to make a commercial model, or fashion model, because their best look is upward duck face; not something you can carry along the runway or use in a Kmart add or magazine shoot.
For me my work has a unique style or look. I hope that when people look they instantly know that is one of my shots. For me it is about he use of light and colour. No filter can capture this, it is how I capture the model. It is how I personally edit the image to keep detail and intensity with beautiful light. My black and white images I learnt to edit from the Master Peter Coulson. I do not rip the colour out of my images, rather I use knowledge of light to filter out spectrums to leave the detail in the image and change the light. The use of tonal curves and hand retouching to give depth finishes the image.
This shot was taken as a snap shot in the dressing room getting ready for a magazine shoot. Taken on my phone 5MB camera with natural and fluro light.
Right lighting, editing, right camera and lens, posing and editing to create the final image.
The paradox here is that many agencies are now using social media to determine castings for models. It is often said that you now need 10,000 + followers to gain large contracts. The marketing people want the exposure that large special media followings bring. However the twist is that most popular models on instagram become that way by showing as many images as they can, wearing as little as they can! Their followers tend to be men mostly in countries with high levels of censorship. Does this actually sound like the demographic to actually buy the dresses that the model will be wearing in the campaign?
Don't get me wrong, I love my phone for taking the snap shot; but the images I post to instagram are professional shots taken on my full frame DSLR, edited and resized for quality.
So if you want to snap shot please use your phone. If you want to create a piece of art that could be hung on your wall or used professionally then please make time to book a shoot with me or another professional.
The current narrative around the death of photography I believe is misunderstood. While there is a shift in the general publics belief and access to imagry through social media and the immediacy of mobile technologies; quality professional work shot by artist will always have a place for those who value art and beautifully constructed and created imagery. We still like to drive a Ferrari even if we can only afford a Hyundai.
