What is a style? The way you light, pose, your angles, the lens and aperture choice you make.
Serg has a style from what he's shown here. His poses are all similar, his color/PP similar, lighting.
You try a bit of everything and eventually settle on what you like the look of, or what works for you or what sells, etc. I see all the images from a session together but not similar images from different sessions and that's where I'd identify a style from.
I shoot more than RR tracks. And yes, it is a cliche. But it's being requested by the kids around here and it's something my competition not's offering. I'm a businessman first and photographer second.
Two keys things to being successful in any business is listen to your clients and they will tell you what they want to buy (instead of you guessing) and differentiate yourself from your competition. The two biggest studios for seniors around here do 95% in-studio images and never go on-location, ever.
The one is into the sets and big foam numbers and they shoot 10 times as many seniors a year as I do. Similar price points.They've been around 20 some years, me about 4. Do clients choose on style? Some, but marketing will make you rich - even if your 'style' is very much a cliche.
I would think if Serge came here and shot like he does on the west coast he'd starve. I think if he entered his images in PPA competitions (at least the ones here) he'd not earn merits. I may be wrong of course like those that say the world isn't flat. (it is - i've seen pictures you know - it's shaped just like a pizza - round and flat, just not spherical)
Maybe if Serge came from the west coast everybody else would starve...
"I'm a businessman first and photographer second. "
Maybe Serge is a photographer first and a businessman second, and if he can do that I applaud him and expect to keep seeing interesting shots, not just the shots that people buy because they:
A. Don't know that other work is available.
B. Are offered pictures with giant foam numbers and railroad tracks
Henry Mencken's sour dictum: 'No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
prof_fate wrote:
Girl/guy on tracks - the ASK for that. Really. And often.
(please excuse me illustrating a point)
And they buy them. And the first one here has brought in a few other senior because they like it that much.
Perhaps if I showed shots like Serg's I get the same reaction. From what he says he does.
Interesting what you see whan you put things together differently. I DO have a style! Clients make comments at times, but here are 4 shots at 4 locations of 3 clients (i have other clients almost the same as the last one there). All are shot wtih the 70-200 at 200/2.8 more or less and are full length and lit rather flatly.We have a lot of cloudy days, yeah, that's it....Show more →
hey fate........there is actually some detail in the image instead.
dmacmillan wrote:
I can think of no higher compliment you could pay him.
Doug
Interesting comment. I assume you're not a pro then, have no thoughts of making a living with photography, have no admiration/respect for those that came before you, don't think one should share knowledge with others and have never benefited from those PPA members that generously support the industry, pass on what they know, give seminars, write books and more?
Micky Bill wrote:
Maybe if Serge came from the west coast everybody else would starve...
"I'm a businessman first and photographer second. "
Maybe Serge is a photographer first and a businessman second, and if he can do that I applaud him and expect to keep seeing interesting shots, not just the shots that people buy because they:
A. Don't know that other work is available.
B. Are offered pictures with giant foam numbers and railroad tracks
Henry Mencken's sour dictum: 'No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
The world needs businessmen. I assume you have a job of some kind, get paid regularly, can buy things (like cameras and food and cars and such)? Some businessman somewhere is to blame for you're being able to do that and not live under a bridge in a box.
If you think a 'better images' will mean people beat a path to your door, where's the line at your door with customers holding fistfuls of cash to hand over to you? A better product does not guarantee success. Never did, never will.
Why are there 'starving artists'? Cause they make art that no one wants to buy. It's not a badge of honor, it's really kind of sad. They're wasting their skills and talent IMO.
Perhaps I make cliche images. I've found a way to make a living doing what I want to do, what I like to do - instead of spending 40 hours a week at a desk with a boss I hate and dreaming of making art. I'm not sitting on the bench, i'm in the game.
Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art. -Andy Warhol
Mike Mahoney wrote:
My shipmate Dougie is spot on here.
I learned a long time ago swimming upstream might be great exercise, but it's not taking you anywhere. You'll get to your destination a lot faster if you go with the flow.
prof_fate wrote:
I learned a long time ago swimming upstream might be great exercise, but it's not taking you anywhere. You'll get to your destination a lot faster if you go with the flow.
Actually you will get to someone elses destination, not yours.
Actually you will get to someone elses destination, not yours.
Working against the flow will make you very tired but you will go nowhere.
When I got into this biz I didn't know much about how and why it worked and thought I'd change the world! Hey, I'm DIGITAL! I'ts a new world you old fat film folks! Move over, here I come!
Umm, I spent a lot of money and made very little. It sounds great to charge a creative fee and make prints/files cheap. But 'the industry' has other traditions - and there's a reason for it. It works. Why try and change 150 years of 'low session fee, sell prints for a lot of money' when it works very well? Times change, people do not. WHY they buy (emotions) isn't going to change until the biology of people change and I'm not up to waiting for that to happen.
The client only gets emotionally attached once they see the image. They get excited, they buy it - price is secondary in their minds at that point. This is why projection proofing outsells paper/web 3:1 (dollar average per sale). Using human nature to make money. Going with the flow.
If you want to make art, you can. If I want to make art I can too. I just don't have to support myself with a day job to do it.
Pretty girls pay me to take their pictures. You're right, my way sucks.
Micky Bill wrote:
Actually you will get to someone elses destination, not yours.
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse,
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.
- Pink Floyd
Whoever think they can make it as a professional photographer and not need to use business in any way please step aside and get a reality check. I know photography is a small percentage of the work you actually do. This is something I see in the photographers that I want to aspire to be. Not some senior photographer. That would get old after awhile :0 The key to success in photography is good business practices, not some pretty picture. Of course you could have different audiences but that changes things.
I've enjoyed your good spirited debate on here, even though I don't agree with anything you have written, apart from when you talk business skills and that's kind of the point. You represent the cynical side of life. You're only in it for the money. Not all of us are like that. That's not a problem though, you swim down river to where you need to go, I'll take the water taxi to somewhere else
As this is a photography forum, I'll critique your shots.
The first shot is a poor choice of angle and has unflattering light. The second is a nice shot of the water, but a poor shot of the woman and in the third shot you've combined a bad pose (the poor girl looks like she's going to push that headstone over) with horrific post, in a tired location. To be honest, your shots here lack artistry, they look like something my accountant could have done
