Also, it's my experience that most women find the technical, gritty details of photography to be a turn off - while men seemed to enjoy it (strangely). Women photographers tend to stop at the most simple solution (ambient) while men will often do whatever it takes - even if it's ridiculously complicated.
I've seen gear setups in this forum that would rival a Hollywood film production... all from male photographers. Most of the female photographers I know though, have far simpler setups.
Jilly2005 wrote:
Why are you worrying about the sex of photographers? Why does it matter?
I think it definitely matters if there are factors at play that naturally would let someone else have an advantage over me in any way. Without any understanding of why this it that might be happening, there is no way to grow from it.
That, and women should, of course, just stay in the kitchen
i think i may disagree...i know what strobist is, i know how to use lighting. i like to be techy.. i do think brides are more comfortable with females, cause stuff happens..like in the getting ready room - someone may have female issues, they are using fake boobies, etc - who wants a guy around during that? on the flip side...how many guys want a female around them when they are being 'buddies' with beer...crass jokes, etc. it works both ways.
I would entire to say though that if you're here, at FM, and have been here a while, you would be an exception. Go to any one of the giant women's photo forums and you'll find the vast majority aren't Strobist types.
deepbluejh wrote:
I've seen gear setups in this forum that would rival a Hollywood film production... all from male photographers. Most of the female photographers I know though, have far simpler setups.
very true.....i'm not saying simple is bad, and i actually have shot far more natural light stuff the more i shoot and more i learn....i started off shooting natural (cause it's all i had), then started shooting with lights, then you start to SEE light, and know the limitations of both natural and artificial light, and sometimes you just go to natural stuff....i say i'm prob 50/50 on my use of strobes...
also, i think that guys like to complicate shoots, and bring in all kinds of equipment, b/c honestly i makes you LOOK "Professional"....ya know....of course that's not why EVERY guy uses complex lighting setups, but come on, it's impressive...
JanetG wrote:
i think i may disagree...i know what strobist is, i know how to use lighting. i like to be techy.. i do think brides are more comfortable with females, cause stuff happens..like in the getting ready room - someone may have female issues, they are using fake boobies, etc - who wants a guy around during that? on the flip side...how many guys want a female around them when they are being 'buddies' with beer...crass jokes, etc. it works both ways.
You may well just be in the 6%! Men do seem more drawn to techy stuff which is why most engineers are men (99% of my engineering class), gaming, IT and photography in general.
I'd be interested for husband and wife teams (or other male/female teams) whether the guy shoots the guys and the girl shoots the girls or if primary shoots bride and second shoots guys. I know if I had a wife/gf working with me I'd probably be inclined to want her to do the sales and also lead the consults, there is a lot of evidence out there that women sell better to women.
NathanHamler wrote:
very true.....i'm not saying simple is bad, and i actually have shot far more natural light stuff the more i shoot and more i learn....i started off shooting natural (cause it's all i had), then started shooting with lights, then you start to SEE light, and know the limitations of both natural and artificial light, and sometimes you just go to natural stuff....i say i'm prob 50/50 on my use of strobes...
also, i think that guys like to complicate shoots, and bring in all kinds of equipment, b/c honestly i makes you LOOK "Professional"....ya know....of course that's not why EVERY guy uses complex lighting setups, but come on, it's impressive... ...Show more →
For me, looking professional doesn't have anything to do with it. I guess I want to always have the right tool for the right job. It's a modicum of technical excellence. If I find myself without something I need, I feel like I've failed in a way. The downside to this is obvious... I carry around a lot of crap (even need someone to help me carry it around).
I'm an engineer by trade, so this is just kind of how my mind works.
If you don't have the tool to do something, you just figure out something else to do or some other way to do it. I would rather that personally than to cart around loads of stuff I'll never use. But yeah I do understand what you're saying.
without making generalizations, as women grow up, they spend a lot more time looking at beauty (vogue, hair salons, magazines, etc.) and are unknowingly influenced by fashion, clothing, branding, colors, posing, etc.... Which ends up influencing the way that women see light, colors, etc. when they begin photographing.
and men: sports, tech, outdoor activities, etc. (as others have said, more technical)
just one way of looking at the way the two different sexes visualize....
Majority of wedding shooters in my market are definitely women. When I teach workshops typically 90% of my students are women. More of the commercial shooters are men though.
Jon-Mark wrote:
Majority of wedding shooters in my market are definitely women. When I teach workshops typically 90% of my students are women. More of the commercial shooters are men though.
I think women seem to be more included to go on workshops, men seem to hit the net to learn. Perhaps it's similar to men being bad at asking for directions when lost
The whole industry seems to be geared to women what with all the shoes and flowers and clothes, how many "Today's Groom" magazines are there? Groomzillas? It seems natural to me that a female photographer would be a perfect fit in such a female oriented event, as long her work was liked by the client.
In other specialities like editorial or commercial work I've found a majority of the editors, art directors, and by a huge margin the art buyers and producers are women. This shifted about 10 or 15 years ago.
In LA it seems that there are maybe 25% ish woman photographers, in the commercial end of things. Maybe more with newspapers who may have diversity programs. I know of one female sports photographer in LA and Orange County.
I had began to think like this for some time - that being a male in the current industry isn't an advantage, and that women have the advantage. I was sad that I might never
I think that idea is the largest discouragement, though, and only that. In fact, I believe the only thing that will hurt you in this or any industry is just that: discouragement. We gotta watch out for it, because the industry and magazines and competitions will all tell us these trends matter.
They don't. Especially when they regard gender.
At the end of the day, I began to believe more in myself as a businessman, and even more as an artist.
The best clients are looking for a confident, aware, and true artist. People sense this. If they hire you because you are a male or female, they will most likely have many other complaints with the final work.
When I thought less about THEM (aka everyone else in this industry and how they do it), and more about what I believe while running my business, and how I do it, I stopped thinking about the male/female advantage.
Nix the discouragement, and do what you do to the best of your ability.
And to be honest - please DO NOT TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY - but wow I've seen so much crap work from female wedding photographers who actually use their gender to sell their work. It's such a sell-out.
Haven't we all seen it? The ones who flaunt their female-ness all over their website but produce absolute crap?!
deepbluejh wrote:
Also, it's my experience that most women find the technical, gritty details of photography to be a turn off - while men seemed to enjoy it (strangely). Women photographers tend to stop at the most simple solution (ambient) while men will often do whatever it takes - even if it's ridiculously complicated.
I've seen gear setups in this forum that would rival a Hollywood film production... all from male photographers. Most of the female photographers I know though, have far simpler setups.
Interesting point. My wife is more of a fan of flash than I am (she pushed for the SB700...I didn't even want an SB400, although I eventually got one, which I now enjoy using for dance floor shots), but at the same time, she's much less interested in lens talk and camera ooh and ahhing than I am. That's probably at least partly because I spend much of my free time working on the business and thinking about things from every angle, while it's something she can only take so much of after a long day.
ben - some women might take it the wrong way, but honestly, i cannot stand to go to a website that is like that. i read a blogpost from a female photographer, and i counted the following:
super cute, cute, cutest - 4 times
beautiful 6 times
love - 12 times
heavenly dream (1 time was enough)
amazing - 7 times
gorgeous - 3 times
lovely 3 times
incredible - 2 times
now i do use those words, because i am a girl, and girls like shiney pretty things, but i know what you are talking about. i don't mind soft, pastel colors on a site, but be real.
