The break picture with page story, Business section of The Gazette (Montreal), is about marketing to today's audience. The image is from fashion shoot for clothing company Le Chateau, the photographer......is the head of the Web marketing team at the in house studio!
Cheap is now good enough.
Once upon a time, a real photographer, a very good photographer, Max Abadian shot their campaigns.
Don't get me started, Allan; I had an interview last month at a reputable fashion house for an in-house photographer position. Prior to coming, I had sent them my website, and at the meeting I brought all of my portfolios. When I arrived, I was asked to fill out a "questionnaire", more like a test, with questions such as "What f-stop would you use in a fashion photograph?" They did not ask to see any of my work.
Needless to say, I was not of like mind and did not get the job. What a strange culture it's become.
People want cheap and do not give a flying furry rats ass about quality and excellence. Most likely the companies wanted some stupid snot nose 18 yrs old kid who doesn’t know a camera from his ass. It just burns me. Is the highly skilled professional photographer becoming extinct?
No, there are plenty, all playing Bocce in the park down the road,Originally Posted by Milton Tierney
People want cheap and do not give a flying furry rats ass about quality and excellence. Most likely the companies wanted some stupid snot nose 18 yrs old kid who doesn’t know a camera from his ass. It just burns me. Is the highly skilled professional photographer becoming extinct?
they have just become redundant, thats all!
I hear the newspaper I shoot for is buying software to auto correct and size images to dump to the pages, soon, the electronic picture desk and photoshop guys will be playing bocce in the park too.
I guess not, you must have left the impression that you knew what you were doing and might want a salary!
Maybe if you had asked to do the unpaid one year internship first as a trial you would have nailed the position down!
Maybe it's time to brush up on my bocce playing!
This issue is larger than large Format Photography. It affects high-end DSLR pros now in every segment of the industry.
Drew Bedo
www.quietlightphoto.com
http://www.artsyhome.com/author/drew-bedo
There are only three types of mounting flanges; too big, too small and wrong thread!
It is very strange to me, that with examples of excellent real estate photography very visible, and with photography fees coming down substantially, most brokers are simply unaware how poor their photography is - and how much it negatively impacts their business. They seem to be content with saving money by employing a digital-point and shoot and producing pictures that are crooked, have wicked barrel distortion, are poorly lit, poorly framed and are generally uncouth.
I think people are eager to embrace the delusion that if they do it themselves, the money they save far outweighs what is, in their minds, a nearly imperceptible loss of quality.
I stood outside a brokers window at looked at his photos. He came out to see if I was interested in buying. I told him I was a real estate photographer. He said "Uh oh, here come the critiques". He was literally covering his ears. He just wanted to maintain the delusion that his photography was "good enough" and that only a photographer would ever see the difference.
My point is that it is not the professional photographer who is being pushed aside, it is the overwhelming illusion by those who formerly employed photographers, that professional and aesthetic considerations can now safely be ignored... in their minds it is no longer relevant and a waste of money.
It is useless to carp about "snot-nosed 18 year olds". We have to provide proof, in clear economic terms, to prospective employers that quality images create profit. Their desire to do it "cheap" reflects the fact that we have failed to convince them in absolute economic terms of the value of good photography. If we can't make that case... no one else will - and game over. Stop complaining and figure out how to make and ironclad case for your services.
Some people think all it takes to be a photographer is an index finger. The other somewhat common thought I hear is that professionals are too expensive. While I can sympathize with a lack of budget, or tight budget, if things are really that bad for a company, then they probably will not be around much longer. Companies can only cut costs for so long to sustain profits, until there is nothing left to cut, and then they are gone.
It's larger than photography, it's happening in all kinds of businesses. Cost cutting across the board. Cut coasts first, determine the detriment later. Sometimes it's hard to determine the negative impact of cost cutting. Sometimes, like when whole line of car's break system fails, it's easy.
...Mike
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