I\'m not a pro, I\'m just someone who likes to take pictures. If I take 200 pics and 20 of them... . eh.. cross that out... and 10 of them come out great, I\'m happy. 10 of my best pics still don\'t even remotely compare to some of the photography I\'ve seen on this site and other sites. 1 thing I enjoy is being able to look at your work and critisize it. With that, everyone who asks for critism never complains!
I think there is a difference between someone taking pictures and an artist creating a piece of art. Anyone can take a picture. This is probably the category I fall into but occasionally I get lucky. The artists shine like the sun. It\'s possible that I\'m a bit better than what I give myself credit for. Lack of confidence? Possibly. Lack of an artistic eye? Probably! I\'m not much of an artist but I try to paint a picture before I take the picture. I try to imagine what I want before pressing my shutter release button. Often I fail to get the look but every so often I succeed and that makes me happy. I continue to plug away...
So what does this have to do with the forum name? During my month or so on this site, I\'ve seen some people post their first wedding shots and I think to myself, \"I could have provided something so much nicer than that\" (that is until I\'m in their shoes, nervous and jerky)... I give these people a lot of credit for attempting their first gigs on their own but what I don\'t understand is, who hires these people and why? Does a client look at a portfolio and figure, \"Good enough\"? Or are they not comparing their work to an artists photographs?
I\'d love to run out and do a wedding. My issue with doing so is that I\'d provide pictures that look just like some of the underexposed/overexposed, out of composition photos that I often see here. Quite frankly, I\'d be embarrased showing the Bride and Groom anything other than what I\'ve seen produced by some of you pros.
Now I know we have to start somewhere but why solo gigs? What I would like to do is offer free services for maybe people who can\'t afford a photographer and have them pay only for the prints. I\'d be happy for the time being only charging them a minimal fee, just until I build up my confidence. Even if I was confident, I\'d feel that I was ripping someone off by supplying them with some of the crap I produce!
The way I look at it... Every wedding, sweet 16, party, club, etc... is a different situation with different lighting and different backgrounds. Because I\'ve taken shots that look great on a partly sunny day in June, doesn\'t mean I can shoot my first solo wedding at 6pm on a Saturday in Jan. Well, I can but they might not like the results. A bit of this ties into knowing your camera (somewhat). There\'s still the artistic challenge that boggles me, but I try.
I\'ve been asked to do a wedding or two but I declined each time. People may have seen the 25 shots I provided for a friends wedding and thought, \"Wow, this guy is great!\". What they don\'t realize is that I took over 1000 shots and these 25 were the best I could come up with and they\'ll never see the rest because they suck. Hell, some of you might look at my winners and tear them apart (which I wouldn\'t mind you doing... there\'s always room for improvement and how would I know what I needed to improve on without your help!).
I feel I\'ve learned so much in the month or so on this site. I thank each one of you, whether you\'re a first time wedding person or a whethered pro. Both types help me learn something new every day.
I\'d love to hear your comments / suggestions. I wasn\'t trying to rip anyone apart here... I\'m trying to understand. Thanks for listening.
Jan 07, 2009 at 07:36 PM
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