burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Many of you who read my comments know that I'm not a gear nut. I've always believed two things:

Mind over matter — Your photographic knowledge and experience are more important than the hunk of junk in front of your face.

Use the right tool for the job — Don't drive screws with a hammer. Sometimes you do need specialty gear.

Emily at Micro Four Nerds just released a video that is worth watching, and makes my point FAR better than I can. I'll link it below.

A bit of introduction — Emily Lowrey is a professional photographer in the UK. She does a lot of event work like weddings and has a YouTube channel that covers all things Micro Four Thirds and Lumix. Emily's been at it for decades, and knows her stuff. She sells all kinds of Lightroom presets, if you're into that sort of thing.

Most importantly, she cuts through the crap to get to the heart of an issue and lay the cards on the table. So before you think you need a new Whosawhatchit D7590 with four lenses to go on your next adventure, watch the video linked in the post below. It made my day.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Here's the link: https://youtu.be/yOizNI5s0K8?si=rAUgzxIvHVnMXOjL

dbjazz Loc: Long Island, NY

Yes. I've been a fan of Emily for years. I highly recommend a look.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My condolences!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Rolling on the floor laughing!

Thanks, Jerry!

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

She made some valid points. Some I didn't quite agree with.

gwilliams6

Watched it, excellent. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

Sounded like pretty standard "photographer, not the camera, makes the image" stuff, but I thought most of her demo images were ugly: Too much contrast and bad color, mostly. This is not to say that a $3000 camera would have made any difference, but if she intended to show that a cheap camera can do the same as an expensive one, this video did not demonstrate that for me.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Emily usually does not like honest color. If you read the captions on some of the images, you would see she is using Lightroom Presets that are basically mood-setters. She often goes for the old "Kodacolor Gold 200 on Kodak Royal paper" look, or something that looks like it is from the 1990s. I'm not a fan of that look at all, but then I've always preferred a more realistic look. I don't like pink clouds.

Part of her point is that not every photo opportunity requires the heavy iron to serve the purpose of recording the scene for its intended use and audience. I agree with her on that, but would probably create an entirely different look. I know I would compose and crop many of her scenes differently.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I'm not really impressed with the moniker "professional photographer". Taking a look at the link hasn't changed my mind!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I thought the label means you get paid to take pictures.

Only someone's clients need to be impressed

Drip Dry McFleye

The best part and maybe the most important part of the video is her drawing that illustrates what all can done with just about any camera, including a phone.

Good post!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

As a 33-year member of the professional photography community, I can certainly agree with that!

There are a few organizations such as PPA and ASMP that offer certification programs, but their services go far beyond imaging skills.

Professional photography is more than 90% business, and 10% photographic execution. The most important part of the business is delivering an image the client wants. Most pros sell with portfolio samples of past work, and from testimonials of — and referrals from — happy customers.

My former employer was in the school portrait business. In that professional photography niche, the most important things were all about providing services to the school (record prints and digital images, yearbook images, barcoded ID cards, photo databases for student administrative information systems), and portrait prints or digital images for parents. Pre-K through grade 11 portraits were made in 60 seconds or less per subject! They weren't works of art. But they were reasonable likenesses and credible records for schools and parents alike.

Were our photographers professionals? Absolutely! Were they excellent photographers? A few of them were. Most were button pushers. But they definitely made a living at photography, at least until social media, the Internet, and mobile devices made photo prints relics of the past for the last couple of generations of parents.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Yes. But to get paid, the "professional" has to do pretty good work!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I have what I want now and have no need of new gear.
Back in December I was at the camera shop having some prints made, I looked at the Z8 for about 30m secs. first it looked like ahhh well it didn't look good, and it felt worse The came the price I bought my first farm for slightly more. I'll keep my D800 and two D810s