Tag: Techniques and Styles

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What Makes a Professional (Photographer)?

I heard a remark made recently, by a colleague of mine.  I was with a group of photographers and we were discussing what makes a photographer, professional. stock-80 At a time when it seems like just about everybody is a photographer, and we are bombarded with thousands of images on a daily basis, what separates a “pro” from an amateur? My colleague stated, “A pro “makes” photographs – an amateur “takes” them”.  While that sounded like a reasonable distinction, it implied that photographers who shot “found moments” were not “professionals”.  What about photojournalists then, who are bound by ethics not to contrive an image?  So, I started thinking, “What set of criteria is used to determine what makes a photographer, a professional?”

Inspired by Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art, I will paraphrase, some of the qualities that Pressfield points out that define us as professionals:

  • “We show up every day” – no matter what.
  • We are committed for the long haul and the stakes are high. We need to feed our families and survive.
  • “We accept remuneration for our labor.” (I’ll add, we expect remuneration)  We love what we do but we work for the money.
  • We master our craft. This doesn’t stop. A professional is always trying to master their technique.
  • We act in the face of fear.  This is certainly applicable to a “war photographer”, but I would go further and say that it takes courage to follow a career path of photography.  Courage and commitment.
  • “A professional self-validates.”  We don’t need others to commission us, in order for us to work.  We are passionate about what we do and we will create regardless if we are commissioned or not.
  • “A professional reinvents himself. “  If you aren’t reinventing yourself, then you probably aren’t taking enough risks.  A professional knows not to play it safe – not in a creative profession.
  • A professional doesn’t take rejection or failure personally.  I have learned first hand, that whenever I have taken a leap and challenged myself, it has always come with rejection or some may say, failure.  Personally, I don’t equate rejection with failure.  Failure implies it’s the end of the story.  Rejection needs to take place, in order to get to the next chapter of the story.

I would highly recommend reading, The War of Art. It’s a must for anyone contemplating a creative career.  As far as my thoughts about using the criteria,  “making” or “taking” a photo to determine who is a professional photographer – let’s just say that a professional photographer is always “making” a photograph, regardless if it is contrived or not.  It is a conscious decision of a professional photographer, when and which “moments” to capture.  We show up every day, to do our job, whether it’s in a studio or a war zone. We are consistent, responsible and accountable.  We are in it for the long haul.  It’s our passion.  It’s our life. It’s our craft and our gift to the world, a legacy of images that define the time we live in.

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What Still Photographers Need to Know About Convergence

We should not think in terms of how we can apply the newest tools of the trade to what how we are shooting today, but rather think about how these tools and future versions may be applied to what we will be doing in the years to come.  We also need to remember that it is not just creatives that are determining what we shoot with, how we shoot it and where the imagery will be used, it’s the top executives and money folks from the camera manufacturers, the advertising executives, broadcast networks, movie studios and magazine and newspaper publishers.  They set the stage and the content creators and receivers of the content or the “audience” react.

We as creatives have a choice of what tools to use – everything from an iPhone to a camera like the

English: Canon 5d Mark II set up for cinema st...
English: Canon 5d Mark II set up for cinema style shooting (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RED, able to produce 5k resolution stills shooting at 96 frames a second at a 200th of a second.  We make our decisions when choosing which tools to use based on a number of factors – affordability  and determining which tool or camera is the best one for a particular job.  Many times, it’s the end use that is the deciding factor. We need to remember that not only our tools are changing, but so is the way the information or content is delivered as we rapidly move away from print to electronic delivery.  Simply put, mobile devices have dramatically changed the way consumers are receiving content and information.

Who could have imagined just a few years ago that a phone could take photographs that weren’t just “good enough” but really good in terms of resolution and delivery?  We need to keep in mind that the limitations of today will most likely not be there in the future.  Technology is changing our lives and our businesses in an exponential way and will continue to do so.  If we are smart and want to stay in business, we need to look forward and imagine what’s next, rather than look at what is or what was.

When I started my still photography business more than 30 years ago, a photographer needed certain technical skills.  We needed to be able to focus a camera and that was tough if you were shooting fast moving action subjects and we needed to know how to get an accurate exposure.  The cameras of today have pretty much eliminated those skills with auto focus and exposure.  Still photographers still need to know how to light but as software becomes more sophisticated will that be a necessary skill set of the future?

When I’m giving a seminar to still photographers who are thinking of moving into motion, I start out by explaining the differences of the two mediums.  Still images are moments in time and video is time in motion.  That explanation sounds simple but it’s quite profound when you think in terms of convergence.  While today’s cameras have pretty much eliminated the skill sets of knowing how to properly focus and expose an image, a photographer or camera operator still has to be able to capture the “decisive moment” – that is where the skill set comes to play.  But is that still true today and will it remain so in the future with motion cameras able to shoot at 96 frames a second at a fast shutter speed with 5K resolution? Why would a client need a photographer to shoot still images when they can pull frames from a motion shoot?  They wouldn’t, especially when most camera operators in the motion sector are working under “work for hire” contracts and they don’t hold the copyright to the footage and/or still images or frame grabs from that footage.  That’s a game changer for the still photography business and licensing of images.

I read an interview once with Vincent LaForet and he was telling a story about having a discussion with a DP at a Red event shortly after the Red One came out.  He asked, “Who in the world would want to shoot a still image with this huge Red camera with a Cine lens?  It’s insane. Why wouldn’t I go out with my 5D Mark II that shoots RAW?”  The DP answered “We want to take your still jobs away from you, just like you want to take our video jobs away from us with your HD SLR’s.”

That was a few years ago.  Now I know a lot of high end still photographers who are shooting with smaller, more affordable and high-resolution motion cameras to shoot still photography jobs and so are DP’s.  That’s convergence and who knows what the future may bring, but one thing is for sure – it’s best to be knowledgeable in both.

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Ten Things Photographers Should do in 2013

Be optimistic – I’m going to start with the hardest one of all, because it’s really difficult to be optimistic these days.  But I find that if I can maintain a positive attitude and turn my thoughts to what is possible, I actually open myself up to more opportunities in my life, instead of creating more roadblocks.

Be open to possibilities. – Be more flexible in how you perceive things and who you are. 500x_housecanon copyChange is always happening, but it’s usually gradual.  Most people don’t take notice until “change” forces their hand to act.  It’s always better to be proactive than reactive so embrace “change” as an ever-present fact of life that creates opportunities for those who are open to seeing them.

Collaborate – Photographers are very independent creatures and collaboration is not part of their norm. As the “photography” business continues to change, photographers will find that collaborating with other artists will make their own businesses stronger.

Diversify – I’m not quite so sure why so many photographers are so rigid in how they define who they are and what they do.  Having a “style” is great, but the trick is to not to be so narrowly defined by that style, so that when styles change, you don’t find yourself obsolete by your own design. It’s kind of like being type cast, where your audience or your clients can only see you in one way.

Concentrate more on “the story”– I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of still photographers and filmmakers this past year and I began to notice a difference in the conversations I was having with each.  Most times, filmmakers would be telling me a story, whereas still photographers would be telling me how they executed a photograph, or essentially telling me the “back story” of the creation of the image. It’s all interesting but “the story” is the bottom line – if that doesn’t come through to the viewer – the rest doesn’t matter – including how it was executed.

Be authentic – be true to yourself.  That means that you have to trust your gut instead of second guessing it.  This is hard, especially when things don’t always work out the way you had hoped.  Step away from the “noise” and listen to the voice inside.

Fail more. – Rejection is a tough pill to swallow but it usually means that you are either pushing yourself to try new things, you are too far ahead of your time or it just wasn’t meant to be.  If you look at successful people you’ll see that most have had failures and rejections in their lives but they stuck with it – instead of letting failure defeat them.

Self-Initiate more projects. – I don’t like to call non-commissioned work, “personal projects”. That co notates that there is no monetary value and these days, just the opposite could be true.  With more and more lopsided contracts  being presented to photographers for commissioned work, a photographer has a better chance to make more money and keep ownership of their work by creating self-initiated projects.  But they need to be prepared to work hard.

Forget about the past except to learn from mistakes. – You can’t change the past but you can learn from it and then, move on.  Look toward the future but make sure you take time to enjoy the “now”.

Realize that in the scheme of things, you are just one small speck in the universe. – I think we all get way too stressed about things that really don’t matter and we let those things control our life.  When we become more conscious of that, we really begin to live life.

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