Effect of "point and shoot" cell phones on the profession of photographer?
Dec 6, 2021 20:16:00 #
Cany143
Loc: SE Utah
OldSchool-WI wrote:
Cany143------So---is or isn't photography an art form to you? Is it just recorded images and data?---ew
Whether it (photography) is (an art form) or whether it (photography) is not (an art form) --I've found, having tried-- for me to answer. The body of work (photographs, generally) I've posted --and others I have not, but only sold--, are the only answer I could provide to your question.
Dec 6, 2021 20:27:38 #
I would venture the opinion that most Hogs could not even pick out which capture was from a phone cam in a lineup of captures... They are getting better ALL the time. The ones negative the most said the same about digital NEVER overtaking film. Give it a rest....
Dec 6, 2021 20:32:35 #
The only photographer you need to compare yourself against is the one with a better camera.
Dec 6, 2021 20:36:10 #
OldSchool-WI
Loc: Brandon, Wisconsin 53919
----Mr.Bob, then your answer is professional photography is dead? Only retired amateurs left?----ew
Dec 6, 2021 21:12:44 #
Quixdraw wrote:
Not everyone uses them, any more than everyone watches the "idiot box", AKA, TV. Hopefully, skill and quality will win out.
Some of us have an "intelligent box" that plays damn good programming! You should try it some time...🙄
Dec 6, 2021 21:29:41 #
OldSchool-WI
Loc: Brandon, Wisconsin 53919
Dear Canon, Of course you have stated your opinion. So---how would you compare yourself with a photographer with an 8x10 view camera? The books, in fact shows a camera constructed for a wrold's fair wall sized panarama, near the turn of century that dwarfs people next to it. It has bellows and all and the photographers use ladders to approach the top. I must admit my Sigma with 46megapixels cannot compare with either the 8x10 studio camera of Karsh of Ottawa or of Ansel Adem's.-----ew
Dec 6, 2021 21:38:57 #
If Ansel Adams was the photographer worthy of that name, he'd do a better job Straight Out Of Camera like a Real Photographer.
Dec 6, 2021 21:41:28 #
OldSchool-WI wrote:
Some critics claim that now that everybody uses "point and shoot" cell phones at all events and through life--photographers will be even in less demand than ever? But maybe the opposite is true? The Kodak boxes that every family had did not end portrait or commercial photography. There will always be a market for quality. And it takes photographic skills to get good photos with any camera---just as it takes artistic skills to make a valuable painting with a brush and paints.
Photojournalism and street photography has been substantially impacted, landscape and most other photography not so much.
Dec 6, 2021 21:45:30 #
srt101fan wrote:
Some of us have an "intelligent box" that plays damn good programming! You should try it some time...🙄
Zilch! Last watched was Cooking, Home Improvement, and History. Intellectual filters apparently differ significantly.
Dec 6, 2021 21:51:07 #
CHG_CANON wrote:
If Ansel Adams was the photographer worthy of that name, he'd do a better job Straight Out Of Camera like a Real Photographer.
Dec 6, 2021 21:52:38 #
Gene51 wrote:
Photojournalism and street photography has been substantially impacted, landscape and most other photography not so much.
Curious, in what respect are photojournalism and street photography impacted?
Dec 6, 2021 22:00:57 #
If you drive your car without looking at the road ahead and instead keep your eyes on the rearview mirror you will CRASH! If you approach your photograher by alwas looking in the rearview mirror and pine for the past, well, you won't have a horrible accident but you WON'T improve your photography, take advantage of the latest great technologies and carry your craft into the future.
The cell phone cameras and all the point-and-shoot models will not obliterate professional photography. It will just put a little more onis on the professionals to do better and more imaginative work than the amateurs and snapshooters and market their skills effectively. They will have to earn their money by doing what inexperienced folks can not do. They will be paid for their expertise- not just taking pictures.
As for retail photography, weddigs and portraiture, there have always been "customers" who will go on the cheap, hire an amateur photographer or an inexperienced upstart to cover their weddings. some come to regret it and some are satisfied. There are some folks who will hire the best possible photograher they can find and pay high fees. And... there are all kinds of folks and situations in between. The consummate pros have to seek out their market and establish ther reputation for quality and service- like any other business that is to remain successful.
There are folks who need a portrait for publication or a special case and make do with a selfie or a passport picture. There are corporate executives, politicians, entertainers, and just regular folks who want something special, dramatic and effective. There are still many excellent professionals to accommodate them. And... if a photograher is good and knows what he or she is doing, he or she has to do the marketing and promotion and seek out their clientele.
Hey- Old Henry Ford did not invent the automobile- he just mass-produce them made them accessible and popular. Nor did George Eastman invent photography or the camera- he too mass-produced and popularized simple cameras and made them accessible to the average consumer.
The cell pho camera is a wonderful device. It introduced photography to folks who would never buy a camera or had no luck with complicated gear. It turned lots of folks ON to image-making- some discovered that they possess great talent and some just have fun. have never All this anti-cellphone camera rhetoric is just plain DUMB! Nobody-normal thinks they are gonna shoot a fashion spread for Vogue Magazine with a cell phone but these slim little devices have a place in photography and that is not to decimate the profession.
Professional photography is not confined to weddings and portraits. There are many fields that require a high degree of skill and professionalism. Wedding photography is no exception. On this forum, I see so many "sour grapes" about that field and folks complaining how hard and nerve-wracking it was to shoot weddings and endlessly complain about uncooperative customers. Besides my commercial and industrial work, I have been shooting weddings for well over 50 years and have had no such problems. I have simple formula- I know what I am doing, I leave my ego and impatience at home, work hard, and treat my clients as if they were my own family- SIMPLE!
And there's nothing wrong with being "old school". Sometimes I have to admonish some of the young whippersnappers I meet in the business and tell them that I forget what they haven't learned yet! There is lots of style, savvy, knowledge, and class in the old school- so you why you know and apply it to the "new School"- you may surprise yourself and others too!
Drive ahead!
The cell phone cameras and all the point-and-shoot models will not obliterate professional photography. It will just put a little more onis on the professionals to do better and more imaginative work than the amateurs and snapshooters and market their skills effectively. They will have to earn their money by doing what inexperienced folks can not do. They will be paid for their expertise- not just taking pictures.
As for retail photography, weddigs and portraiture, there have always been "customers" who will go on the cheap, hire an amateur photographer or an inexperienced upstart to cover their weddings. some come to regret it and some are satisfied. There are some folks who will hire the best possible photograher they can find and pay high fees. And... there are all kinds of folks and situations in between. The consummate pros have to seek out their market and establish ther reputation for quality and service- like any other business that is to remain successful.
There are folks who need a portrait for publication or a special case and make do with a selfie or a passport picture. There are corporate executives, politicians, entertainers, and just regular folks who want something special, dramatic and effective. There are still many excellent professionals to accommodate them. And... if a photograher is good and knows what he or she is doing, he or she has to do the marketing and promotion and seek out their clientele.
Hey- Old Henry Ford did not invent the automobile- he just mass-produce them made them accessible and popular. Nor did George Eastman invent photography or the camera- he too mass-produced and popularized simple cameras and made them accessible to the average consumer.
The cell pho camera is a wonderful device. It introduced photography to folks who would never buy a camera or had no luck with complicated gear. It turned lots of folks ON to image-making- some discovered that they possess great talent and some just have fun. have never All this anti-cellphone camera rhetoric is just plain DUMB! Nobody-normal thinks they are gonna shoot a fashion spread for Vogue Magazine with a cell phone but these slim little devices have a place in photography and that is not to decimate the profession.
Professional photography is not confined to weddings and portraits. There are many fields that require a high degree of skill and professionalism. Wedding photography is no exception. On this forum, I see so many "sour grapes" about that field and folks complaining how hard and nerve-wracking it was to shoot weddings and endlessly complain about uncooperative customers. Besides my commercial and industrial work, I have been shooting weddings for well over 50 years and have had no such problems. I have simple formula- I know what I am doing, I leave my ego and impatience at home, work hard, and treat my clients as if they were my own family- SIMPLE!
And there's nothing wrong with being "old school". Sometimes I have to admonish some of the young whippersnappers I meet in the business and tell them that I forget what they haven't learned yet! There is lots of style, savvy, knowledge, and class in the old school- so you why you know and apply it to the "new School"- you may surprise yourself and others too!
Drive ahead!
Dec 6, 2021 22:01:53 #
OldSchool-WI
Loc: Brandon, Wisconsin 53919
CHG_CANON wrote:
If Ansel Adams was the photographer worthy of that name, he'd do a better job Straight Out Of Camera like a Real Photographer.
Indeed Canon, you must be kidding or merely provoking comments. The same with the member basically denying the objective of photography as an art from. Every celebrity in the world from Charlton Heston to George Bernard Shaw sought to have a portrait by Karsh of Ottawa. Incidentally, Karsh traveled to Britain to do his portrait of GBShaw taking his 4x5 Graphic View Camera. Karsh was noted for both artistic conveyance as well as details from the camera. He used an Ektar on his 8x10. In his early days, around 1950--such detail was described in the camera mags by their critics as "PORE PHOTOGRAPHY." Well the resolution in points and shoots do not have such resolution.-----ew
Dec 6, 2021 22:15:43 #
OldSchool-WI wrote:
Indeed Canon, you must be kidding or merely provok... (show quote)
He is you know.
Dec 6, 2021 22:17:48 #
OldSchool-WI
Loc: Brandon, Wisconsin 53919
To: El Shapiro:----FINALLY a pro who has been shooting weddings for 50 years. Of course you then have a name so as to get the expensive weddings in presumably a large city? And the rest of your answer is not new to me or my thinking. But just how do I answer my own critics or apprehensions about re-entering that field. I have the equipment and the books of contract form for such a business. Is there only the cream of a 50 grand----GRAND WEDDING for the experienced like yourself? Do most now on the lower end of wedding prices simply buy the copyrights from the proofs from candidmen and have their own books made by internet vendors? Certainly you have a feel whether the business is stable or going own hill except for those of 50 years of contacts with "wedding planners" and caterers?------ew
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