fstop22 wrote:
Heads up folks, the website with this logo belongs to someone that's been in business for 20 yrs. Don't think the same person that's asking these Questions.....
www.maria@mariaphotography.com has the logo......
I fear these forums may lose Maria, and that would be a shame. Indeed, I too have only just registered and am already questioning whether Ill be returning. As with other such discussion forums, some here are too quick to neglect the social filters they otherwise use in face-to-face communication, and fstop22s post appears, on first reading, to be a prime example. For my part, Im here to explore and celebrate a budding interest in general photography, not to wallow in unduly negative criticism or knee-jerk cynicism.
Marias website states specifically: Having worked in the industry on both sides of the camera for over 20 years in film, television and countless TV commercials, Marias inside knowledge of the business gives her clients the competitive edge to get their work noticed. I do not read this sentence as saying that she has been in the still-photography business for 20 years, but that she has been involved in the motion picture and television entertainment industry for that long an assertion that I find, on its face, inherently credible, not that any authority has appointed me to judge Marias credibility.
The confusion here seems caused by the apparent disconnect between Marias claim of relative newbie-photographer status versus the remarkable polish of her website and enviable merits of the photographs that decorate it. Is it not believable that Maria, having enjoyed a 20-year career as an observant subject of and participant in the visual arts of motion photography, might have developed an eye for the elements of still photography in the process? Seems like a natural enough transition to me. Is it not also believable that her previous career would have earned her more than sufficient entertainment-industry contacts upon which to build a photography business that caters to that industry's specific needs?
Although I work as a magazine editor and have for years observed and even directed professional photographers at work (all of whom were graciously patient with my intrusions), I have only recently picked up a camera myself (Canon) to attempt to emulate the technical and artistic skill Ive watched those pros demonstrate these many years. Like Maria, I too consider myself a newbie photographer, but that doesnt mean that she or I are completely ignorant on the subject, nor incompetent.
If I, like Maria, post something here that you do not understand, you can do one of two things: assume Im an idiot or that Im dishonest and play gotcha, or simply ask preferably courteously that I clarify the confusing post. The later will find me remaining an active participant in this forum community; the former will find me and others long gone.
My impression of Maria is that she is refreshingly open, infectiously enthusiastic and enviably talented qualities we might all hope to demonstrate here. Meanwhile, someone please kick this soapbox from under me Im boring even myself!