RobertLynn
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Samuel Gao wrote:
you know, I gotta step in on this. First of all, if you think photography is an art, then you'll always have a following somewhere somehow, unless it's just... plainly bad. If you think photography is a science, and it follows a SET formula, then by all means okay. Prof_fate may have something here. But let's take a step back and let's talk about what 'classes' teach.
From MY experience (mind you i'm not the guru of photography) but I've had teachers who went to reputable schools with huge credentials such as Art Center in Pasadena (CA). My teacher told me that 'knowing photography' was expected. What they taught their students wasn't photography, but PERFECTION. Does perfection sell? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly doesn't hurt your chances!
I've taken a weddings and portraiture class, and I've learned about different lighting patterns, different types of lights, strobe work, ratios, etc. The most important thing about posing is to make it "natural". Obviously the photography and the "client" needs to establish rapport of some sort for everybody to feel comfortable. If the model/senior isn't comfortable, it'll show in the pictures. It appears that Sergio has done an outstanding job at making the model feel comfortable.
I do agree that senior portraits requires some sort of technical expertise to be able to be marketable. But I suggest to go along with all these artistic pictures, tag some standard "shoot by railroad tracks" pictures, to keep mom and dad off your back. Now some people may not like photoshop, but it's almost a necessity by today's standard. Of course nobody can process thousands of pictures and give a decent turn around time with multiple clients! Learn lightroom, or any other batch processing software that can do simple adjustments.
As to sergio's shots from an artistic point of view, I like them. But I'm biased towards cross-processing techniques (I love how it makes the color very surreal). I went on his website and it just looks like a page from lomography.com!! (Which isn't a band thing -- I too am experimenting with all sorts of different actions, tutorials to achieve a decent "look" in different type of Cross Processing). But at the same time, i'm trying to diversify my knowledge of photography, such as understand color management, proper white balancing, and of course, be able to spot deficiencies before I fire the shutter (i.e. hair particles waving around, objects that shouldn't be in frame, etc.).
But I do commend Sergio in his effort from an artistic point of view. Maybe he'll decide not to do seniors next year. Heck maybe he'll change what he wants to do with photography. Point is, he's getting experience dealing with customers (1st hand) and he already has some sort of system going. I'm sure he's not closed minded (as some pointed out) but he will take offense for offensive criticism, instead of being constructive. Do you call a child an idiot if he brings home a 'C' instead of an 'A'? No! You help him by giving him samples, and helping him 'perfect' his technique.
That's why we do photography, because it's open-ended. It seems to have all sorts of variety in it, and we can all indulge to our own creative desires. Sergio has his way, let's help him! Sure we can give him advice about our experiences in the similar field, but let's keep it at that. Advice. Don't say "you fail". Don't say "mommy and daddy will hate these pictures". Rather, say "Your unique vision maybe a little much for mommy and daddy. Here's something what they may be expecting." And give him an example!
Like I said, I'm not the most experienced photographer here, in fact I'm far from it. But i'm constantly learning. I take criticism all the time with my work, and I learn from my critiques to support MY STYLE. And in the end, I think that's why people will go to you: Because they like YOUR STYLE. It's up to us to decide the size of our audience based on what style we develop.
I'm sorry for the rant, but I just had to lay my $.02...Show more →
Some good advice, but saying that you cannot say mom and dad will hate the pictures is a bit off the mark. This is like where the "youth" sports do not keep track of the scores, they just play to "play", because they are all "winners".
Here's the bottom line, Serg knows his way around the camera, photoshop and apparently he's able to deal with clients. For our wedding, I wouldn't had a kid do it, and we didn't get married tooooooo far away. For a client to give him a 3800 dollar wedding, he obviously can talk to clients well too. The fact remains though, this set doesn't hit the mark that he usually does. There's a few good snapshots in here, but he's capable of much more than that, I've seen it.
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